BLACK BLOOD SCARLET EYES
by Yue no Kitsune
Summary: everything about her is not what it seems... her past unknown, her future carved in a crossroad. she will determine the fate of everyone and yet... who knows why...please R n' R 8/24: A/N: some editing done for the prologue until chapter 3 but not much
1. Prologue

Author's Note: Hihi minna-san and hihi to Ree-chan. Gomene if I just wrote just now, my other works are definitely lost and I had a hard time remembering where I placed them. Anyways, this is only the prologue of the story, I am still thinking of changing so many of the parts so please bear with me… please R n' R

P.S: Ree-chu, have a nice summer break and gomene for not giving any reviews…hehehe…side track all the time…gomen.

**BLACK BLOOD, SCARLET EYES**

**Yue-No-Kitsune**

PROLOGUE:

_Huge flames_

_Blooded walls_

_Destroyed houses_

_Dead bodies_

"_Why are you doing this!?" A man holding a kunai while his blood drips from his wounds shouted at a young girl around seven years old who was standing in front of him with eyes void of anything but face stained with blood. "Because," she trailed off. She was standing there in front of him with blood stained hands, "because, I'm tired. I'm tired of being used like a weapon."_

"_Che…you are a weapon! That is what you are!" the man shouted at her but his figure trembled with fear knowing that he could do naught against this monster in front of him._

"_Is that why you took me away from my real parents? Is that why you also killed them to begin with? They were your friends weren't they? But you betrayed them just because of my power? Or was it because you're jealous that mother chose my father over you? Tell me? Is that the reason or are you just power hungry like this forsaken village of yours?" she spoke so calmly at him as her chakra slowly changed shape on here palm. _

_He knew what she was saying and he knew was happening. He could never escape the Black Reapers claw. Death will surely come and he knows its going to be a lot hell of pain. No matter how young she may look like, the blood that runs through her veins is the blood of those that had been forgotten, those who had lived in the shadows and are thought to be just plain myths and legends. _

_As the chakra on her palm had now gotten its own shape and has solidified itself, a long sword, twice as long as the girl with a black hilt glowed with power and death. "You can't do this!! You can't kill me! What about those few years that I was by your side! I took care of you, I gave you whatever you want and desired!! I—"_

"_You did nothing for me," she spoke as silent as a whisper as she walked slowly towards the man who was backing away from her with terrified eyes. "All those years…you trained me so that you could use me. You told me a lot of lie all those years, making me believe that you were my real father and that my mother was that woman. All of you, all of you were only doing all this for power but you never expected that I'll soon find out of your real plan, right?" _

_The man stared wide eyes at the child. Unable to move, unable to talk, he just stared at those lovely but dead silver eyes as though it was the most beautiful gem in the whole world. "You can't talk, you can't move," it was a statement as now they are only an arm length away. "I am grateful to you; to all of you for teaching me such jutsu's but, if you only knew what my mother's bloodline is…"_

_She raised her hand where her sword solidified, "… you would have known what my ability is."_

_With one well aimed swift, the man's head was then sliced so cleanly and fast from his body as another set of blood splattered into the child's body, and yet, she showed no sign of anything, not even disgust. _

_Her sword, created from her own chakra dissolved into nothing as she left the village she had grown from since young to be consumed by the inferno. Not even one life could be found even in the sides or inner area of the village. Each and every one of every family were all slain and their blood covered every corner of the village streets and homes. It was a brutal and disgusting sight. _

_The inferno blazed with satisfied hunger as it consumed everything that the young child of the black god gave to it. With so many bodies, from young infants to old people, everything, everything from that village, even animals themselves and houses were all consumed by the red flame of hell as its red glow of triumphant bloodstained greed had now been satisfied with the forsaken village that had tormented the young child. _

_Walls now consumed entirely by the flames and everything that once had life leaving only ashes as dawn broke into the sky. The young girl nowhere to be found but small specks of blood dried in one area near the cherry tree as an indication that she stood there watching everything that had happened until dawns break. _

~x~X~x~

As the flames finally lost its rage and hunger for blood, the ninja's of the neighboring village with some villages that were also in tune with this village that has been burnt down into mingled ashes started searching for evidences on who might have done such a thing. There was no alarm that there had been an enemy village attack but it was obvious that whoever did this could never be just one or a small group of people…

But they are quite mistaken…

Konoha, Suna, Earth Country, Cloud Country and some other small villages came to investigate as to how the Snow Village ended up in such a state.

There had been no survivors at all and the bodies could hardly be identified because they could neither be ashes to begin with or they had just ended up into a very, very disgustingly charcoaled appearance. 'Brutal' is an understatement, whoever did this had been a psychopath or narcissist or just a plain sadist.

Adults or children alike and even poor animals were burned after they were sliced or stabbed to death but with only one blow which untimely caused their death.

The snow village is where every other village gets rare medical plants that could only be grown at where the Snow Village is located, that's why even the Wind Country "Suna" and the Fire Country "Konoha" would come this far to investigate. The Snow Country is practically covered in snow and not to mention, it has been cold for the past few nights when they all traveled together to reach Snow Country.

But the flames that consumed the village must be truly a large one that not even the cold snow and weather is able to die it down. Every one of the ANBU Black Ops of every village could not find a single trace of life and not even a small fragrance of the culprits could be sense, hence, even the summoned creatures could not even trace anything to anyone. It smelled like burnt flesh and decayed bodies everywhere.

Even the most cold hearted ANBU Ops did not last long and had vomit a mouthful while the other neither ended up immensely sick and unable to eat let alone drink water for a few good mile radius.

The smell was so strong that you have to travel a good mile radius not to smell such disgusting scent but because of the mountain wind, the scent is blown even a few good miles away. Those who wanted to eat could not because they could remember such disgusting memory of dead bodies that are practically unable to be recognized even if medical ninjutsu is used.

There was nothing they could do, no other things to be found and not even a single trace of the murderers.

With a final command and pleased sighs, everyone left and returned to their village with what they know of, but without any evidence of who might have done such cruel thing to everyone from that particular village but at the same time glad that they could finally leave such mass grave. Though practically, that was worse than a mass grave.

~x~X~x~

As one by one the ninja's of each village left, a few shadows lurk behind the frozen trees and the building snow, watching everything from the same time those ninja's came. They were silent the whole time, unmoving, just like shadows themselves. They watched and observed what those ninja's are doing making sure to not leave even a single thing out of their memory.

If those ninja's were unable to find anything out of the ordinary or even the scent or essence of the culprit(s), then they are nothing compared to these shadows that lurk behind the frozen trees who were watching them with calculative gazes and unmoving feelings.

They are cold as ice, not even minding the smell nor the sight of such disgusting and brutal kill that could actually be imagined by just watching the crime scene which is the actual village in itself.

They were only analyzing everything with patience and calculative gazes, not leaving one single area unchecked and the coldness of the night is nothing to them.

"Pathetic…they can't even see nor sense such obvious trail." A silent whisper full of hate and antagonistic feeling yet it sounded like a beautiful chime was spoken by one of shadowed figure. It was obvious that it belonged to a girl and the said girl is the shortest among the entire hooded figure in the area.

Another hooded figure spoke, this time with a snicker of amusement as a response towards what the female said. "It can't be helped; you should know that they aren't that smart. They never try to see the small picture in anything. They always prefer to see the big picture leaving the most important details, which is, the small picture." It was a soft baritone as its owner spoke and it is clear that this is a boy.

The other hooded figures neither snorted as a 'yes' nor just shrugged in approval to what the boy said. Now that every one of those ninja's are gone, they had come out of their hiding making sure that no one of those ninja's is near within a two mile radius.

"Tsk. Whatever, we're here to find any trace of essence that might be 'that person' or any survivor that could lead us to 'that person'. Just to make sure that we did not leave any kind of unseen spot, we should stay at least two days here and re-search everything." The same female that spoke with hate, spoke again, this time in a soft but commanding voice as though she is the leader of their group.

No one tried to argue, knowing that what she said is true and what they had also been thinking. Each one went to a designated area to search without anyone telling them. They were silent as they also tried to ensure not to leave any essence of their chakra behind nor their scent.

Just how they do things and how they move clearly shows how professional they are though most of them are practically short for adults. Some of them are as tall as a twelve year old kid if not at least as tall as a ten year old.

Even with the white hood that made all them seem like a part of the scenery they were cautious in every step they make of any kinds of jutsu's they use as they looked and memorized every detail of the place.

They never spoke a single word when they started and only the silent whisper of the wind gave the silence a breakthrough. "Do you guys think we could find 'that person'?" a voice that of a soprano spoke -obviously a girl- in a soft whisper.

Even though they are a yard apart, or practically more in which they could not see each other in eyes length, they were able to hear her loud and clear even if she had just whispered her question. She was as short as the first girl who spoke with that of a twelve year old kid. When she asked that question, the atmosphere of the area turned a bit unnerving and tense as the question sink into their minds.

Finally, after a few minutes of dreadful silence…

"I'm sure we'll be able to find 'that person'. We can't loose hope…"

Author's Note: the prologue is now finished. I'll try to update the first chapter soon…pretty please give me a review…


	2. The Mission

Author's Note: Chapter 1 up and ready… I just want to greet Ree-Chi again… hihi

-------

_BLACK BLOOD SCARLET EYES_

_Chapter One:_

_**Mission: Protect yet Kill**_

~x~X~x~

"Hurry!!! We have to hide fast!!!"

"Be cautious!! We don't know how many they are! Don't let your guard down for a second!!"

"Protect the witness at all cost!"

"Hurry! We can't let them catch us!"

"Be on your guard at all cost! They'll possibly be anywhere. Don't slack!"

THUD!!!

"What's happening!?"

THUD!!

"What's going on?"

"Someone had been attacked! Everyone! Use formation three! Be ready for any sudden attacks from your surroundings!!"

THUD!!! THUD!! THUD!! THUD!!

THUD!! THUD!! THUD!!! THUD!

THUD! THUD! THUD!! THUD!!

THUD!! THUD!! THUD!! THUD!!

THUD!!! THUD!! THUD!! THUD!!

THUD!! THUD!! THUD!! THUD!!

THUD!! THUD!! THUD!! THUD!! THUD!!

A swift breeze swept. Leaves rattle slightly indicating the winds arrival. In the middle of the forest around thirty unconscious bodies of ANBU ninja's lay flat on the dirt around a single body that lay flat on the middle of them all, as a single letter tucked under the man's hand.

A trace of strong chakra filled the paper as another breeze came making the surrounding of the forest dark when the clouds moved to cover the full moon from the skies. Things are getting more and more interesting as a love note had been sent and received signed by none other than the 'Black Reaper'.

Things are truly going for the worst as another prey had been found…

_--------------_

_The wind blows with gentleness as it carries with it the beautiful pink cherry blossoms towards the sky. Right in the middle of the field of the pink blossoms, a figure in a white cloak stood staring at the beautiful trees around. The figure stood motionless as the wind blew gently on the white cloak and few locks of long hair. _

_Everything was beautiful and serene until a few moments later; a strong gust of strong wind made its presence known and gave a strong blow, changing the scenery so suddenly. From a beautiful calm flowery view to dead and deserted scenery that seemed to be once a war zone. The figure stood still, at the middle letting her white cloak sway……………_

_As dead bodies covered every corner of the land, dead trees covered in dried blood of the people killed in what seemed to be a massacre. Broken walls, destroyed houses, a very disturbing sight that can only exist in a nightmare. _

_The young girl that just stood finally walked towards the broken entrance gate of what seemed to be a once a well known and strong village but is now a destroyed and mass grave site that practically screamed to whoever saw this that when these people were killed, they were tortured far too brutally that it can't possibly be done by a human being…_

_Faces could not be recognized and the smell of the place is disgusting. Everything that was around the girl was such a nightmare like scenario. A step at a time, a slow stride. Silent as she walk along the body covered path, her white cloak swaying around her and her hood covering her face. _

_The sky drenched in black clouds, as a thundering noise echoed in the vas mass grave of the place that was once a village. Thunder continues to roar in never ending hate as drops of liquid finally falls from the dark clouds. _

_But instead of transparent water falling down from the dark sky, red thick liquid endlessly falls down as the thunder continues its endless hateful wail. _

_The stranger's white cloak now drenched in red liquid as she continues to walk underneath the bloody rain but nonetheless, the young girl did not seem to mind at all as she still continues to walk in a long road with an endless pile of dead bodies now covered by a blood colored rain. The road she took seemed not to have at all a destination as she continues to walk and walk forward…_

_Lips parted as words were said but there was no sound that came out… it continued to move, the person continued to speak. What is she saying? What is she trying to tell? Who is she talking to and where is this forsaken place? It's hard to know. But the girl still continued to speak words that are unheard by the ears as sounds no longer exist in this nightmare._

_~X~x~X~_

A sudden jolt of uneasiness made the black hooded figure wake up from the quiet slumber that had invaded. Shivering from an unknown feeling of cold, raising her bandaged hand to wipe away a cold sweat from her forehead, Sakura sighed. It has been two years now since she left Konoha after Sasuke left.

No, she wasn't trying to find Sasuke like what the people in Konoha thinks. After Sasuke left to go to Orochimaru, she had decided to leave as well to get stronger so that she won't be a burden to her friends.

Since she felt useless when the time that Konoha had been attacked and she can't even do anything to help. She tried to save Sasuke form Gaara but she ended up being the one saved form him instead. But she knows what they are thinking when she left without telling anyone at all about it. Since everyone still thinks of her as one of Sasuke's fan girls. Even if that's the case, she decided to ignore it and train rather than to think about things like that.

Ever since she left, she learned how to control her chakra better than before. With every hardships she face in the forest or near a village, she self-thought herself and even goes as far as going inside a village and watching the ninja's there how they trained.

Changing her hair color to red and wearing colored contacts to change her eye color to azure, she pretended to be a young twelve year old girl looking for a job to earn some money to send to her family at home in a very small village that barely had enough food to eat.

That was when she was twelve, when she left her village after the Third Hokage's funeral. In pretending to be that so-called girl, she had gotten very good in concealing her chakra and her skills in acting improved a lot. Because of that, she was able to not only earn money as she work part-time, but she also learned to gather information and spy on the village ninja's when they teach their students in their academy or from some of their Genin or Chuunin Ninja's that are training without getting caught.

Though that happens, she doesn't stay long in one village and goes to another after she learned what she wants to learn which only makes her stay in just after two to three months, after of course copying some of their books and scrolls where different kinds of strong jutsu's are placed. She then stays inside a thick forest to train on those jutsu's and with her senses as well. Never once did she regret ever about her current lifestyle as a wondering ninja and her decision in leaving her village.

As she is now, she had grown more strong and independent and her knowledge of different arts and skills also improved especially in her senses and fair skill in different kinds of plants that could be poisonous or not and plants that could help and that could only hurt.

She had also managed to find a teacher to teach her sword fighting and how to further improve her skills. Her teacher was once a ninja but she retired and lived a fairly normal life outside her village. She was kind though strict but she gave Sakura a chance and thought her for only three months.

It was because Sakura was determined to learn and she was also a fast learner which made her progress very fast in her studies. Now, after a year and a few six months, Sakura had been known as a wondering ninja but no one knows how she look and if she's even a 'she' because of her black hood that practically covers her whole body and face but only leaving her eyes uncovered. She had been the most unique ninja for using a weapon that is practically hard to control, but she doesn't use the same weapon all the time.

With her unlimited weapons sealed in her scrolls, no one could ever guess which weapon she would use and there is no way for anyone to even know because only her victims were able to see her weapons and they all end up dead to begin with. But of all her weapons, there is one which she favored most. A weapon that is hard to control since it can only be swung in one angle but she is able to do something about that. So swinging her favored weapon is already a breeze for her.

'_Even if I am this strong… I'm not as strong as Naruto and I'm sure I'm not as strong as Sasuke as well…I have to train harder no matter what. I have to be at least as strong as they are if I want to protect my friends…' _Sakura thought to herself with remorse as she remembered the reason why she even left in the first place. She wanted to become strong for her friends but being unable to determine how strong she is when there is no one to tell her… she still felt weak.

'_It's been two years now hasn't it. I never expected time to move so fast. And that dream again, how many times had I dreamt about it? But how could I be thinking about that dream if I can't even be as strong as my team mates?!! I'm sure everyone had grown more powerful from these two years… (Sigh)…' _sighing again, Sakura adjusted her black hood so that it would cover half of her face. The sun hasn't come up yet and the moon was still at its highest peek, practically indicating that it hasn't been past midnight.

She had learned how to tell time and the weather by just looking at the sky and it helped her tremendously when she goes hunting. Ever since she trained and sleeps outdoors, she had grown fond of the forest and its clear mysteries that it holds. The danger she feels makes it more interesting and she couldn't help but feel more alive inside the forest.

Sleeping in a sitting position on top of a tree branch, Sakura closed her eyes again to get some sleep. She has to rest for her upcoming mission and if she can't get any good night rest, she might not be able to do her job correctly and that could just be a big problem… she has a very important job to do and she still has to do something about finding her target to begin with…she can't let a meaningless dream unease her. She had already received the message and the description of the target; all she has to do now is to hunt her prey before the assigned deadline and to ensure to get the item that was asked for her to retrieve.

She has to finish this mission at all cost and if she has to kill each and every one of her opponents to do so…she will…

Sighing again, she let the darkness envelope her consciousness allowing the silence to take her away from the real world and into the world of dreams…

XXXXXXXXX

"SHIZUNEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" a loud voice of none other than the Fifth Hokage rang throughout the whole Hokage's Tower as she called for her assisstant. It was evident from the tone of the Fifth's voice that she isn't happy at all or something really bad is going to happen. The one called ran as fast as she could towards Tsunade's office. As soon as she opened the door of the office she was greeted by a very angry Tsunade, holding a mission scroll. "Tsunade-sama, what is it?"

Tsunade looked at her apprentice with an angry expression clearly stating that she truly isn't happy about what she just recently read printed in the scroll she was reading. She sighed, calming herself before she spoke to Shizune, "Call Team 7 and make sure they all come here ASAP. I want them here within 20 minutes tops for an important mission and make sure Kakashi is here too. Now go." With that said, Shizune hurriedly ran out to send a message to team seven and to find Kakashi before it's too late.

Something is terribly up and when the team Tsunade wants is here, she would definitely find out the reason for her Mistresses' very, very odd behavior. Because her Mistress' only acts like this if there is really something important coming and a dangerous one at that.

'_I never expected this at all. I wonder if this has anything to do with that rumor. Prank or not, we need to investigate this as soon as possible before anything bad happens…'_

-----------------------

To say that things are going for the best is an understatement. Team 7 sat down on one of the tables inside Ichiraku Ramen shop eating while discussing about the mission they had, not too long ago. Actually, Naruto has been the one discussing about it, rather, he was more on the shouting and making loud noise part than actually discussing.

Two years passed after he left Konoha to train with Jiraiya to get stronger and to get Sasuke back and it has only been three months ago since he actually gotten Sasuke to come back to Konoha with him and with some of the rookie nine members who agreed to take the mission with him. Sasuke didn't mind at all about returning to Konoha, but he had a condition that if they defeated him, he would return and they did.

"Oi! Teme! Are you listening to what I'm been saying!? Oi!" but it seems that for all those two years of training that Naruto received, he hadn't changed at all, nope, not a bit. "Shut up dobe, you're giving me a damn headache with your constant yelling…just shut up." And Sasuke did not change that much as well when it comes to his attitude.

When he came back, he was gladly given a chance by Konoha with only a light punishment that he is not allowed to take any mission without anyone to look after him. Almost like he is being baby-sit for that matter, but he didn't complain since it wouldn't last long. Once he could ensure to them that he won't leave again, they would allow him to take solo missions.

"HEY!!!! I'm just telling you that if you didn't interfere with my battle, I could've defeated him all on my own!!!" Naruto retorted but was only given a grunt by Sasuke as a response that further annoyed the blond. Before Naruto could yell at Sasuke again, Ino, who had now replaced Sakura as the member of team seven, smacked Naruto hard enough to give the annoying blond a bump on the head. "Shut up Naruto! Honestly, if you continued to fight that guy you would only loose. You should thank Sasuke-kun since he practically saved your butt out there."

"Hey!!! I could handle it myself you know!!! I didn't need Teme's help at all!!!" Before Ino could have given Naruto another retort Kakashi appeared before them with a puff of smoke and with his usual greeting

"Yo!"

"Kakashi-sensei! Is there another mission for us!? IS there? Huh!? Huh!?" Naruto excitedly asked practically ignoring Ino who was currently annoyed. "Well, I see that you guys are getting along quite fine." Kakashi smiled behind his mask.

"Naruto, pipe down a little, I don't know if it's a mission or not but I just had recently gotten a message from Tsunade-sama and she requested us to go to her office this instant. So you better eat fast before she throws a fit. She wants to see Team Seven immediately. She said it's urgent." Before anyone could even ask a question, Kakashi just left, leaving the three chuunin's to hurry up… well, actually, only Naruto since both Ino and Sasuke had finished their ramen.

-----

"Oi, Baa-chan, is there a mission for us!? What is it all about? Do we have to protect a princess this time? Or is it a King? Tell me tell me!" a very loud blond spoke as soon as he ran inside the office of the Fifth Hokage and the said Hokage just gave an irritated growl while massaging her aching head. Sometimes, she wished that Naruto could be a bit controlled… even just a bit. But Nooo… the gods could not grant that wish because it's just too much to ask.

Before she could say something to shut the blond up, she was saved from doing so by Ino who gave him a smacked on the head. Every one in the room sighed with content that the blond finally shutted up.

"I'm sure you're wondering why I called you in an urgent manner…" she began as she looked at everyone in the eyes. Folding her hands and resting her chin on her folded hands, Tsunade continued with the same serious tone of voice. "…as you might have guessed, I am giving you an A-Ranked mission. I want you to protect a very important business man and to ensure as well that you would find out the reason why he is being hunted down…"

"Tsunade-sama, how long would this mission take?" Kakashi asked behind his book hat he is reading.

Tsunade didn't bother minding the perverted sensei and just answered his question. "This mission might take you more than a month to accomplish. But all you have to do is to ensure the safety of the client and you should capture the perpetrator for the attempted assassination that would befall the client and to capture the assassin as well."

"Che, I'm sure we could capture the assassin before you know it, Baa-chan. No one could ever get pass through me, the great Uzumaki Naruto, Believe it!!!" Naruto grinned wide as he proclaimed. He was about to get smacked again when Tsunade suddenly spoke in a very serious a dangerous voice.

"Don't take this lightly Naruto. The person you will be protecting is rumored to have been a former member of the Akatsuki. He, until now has been very much protected and has done a fairly good job of helping the villages that wants to capture the S-class criminals that are the members of the Akatsuki. Unfortunately though, there has been a letter sent to him that states of his upcoming death. Do not take this lightly because the assassin that you would be fighting is known by the name of 'Black Reaper'. I can't give you any information about the assassin because we don't have any idea who he or she might be except that the assassin would be as strong as an S-class ninja." Kakashi, now looking at the Fifth Hokage had a serious and calculative look.

He knows that one of the Akatsuki is Uchiha Itachi and having Sasuke to be in this mission is practically suicidal as well. Even if they could protect the client, he knows that Sasuke would try to find a way to talk to the client for any information concerning his older brother and that could just be as dangerous and as he guessed, as he looked towards his far right, he could see the dangerous look Sasuke is giving.

"Tsunade-sama, if the client is the one we are protecting and he is a very important person, shouldn't the ANBU Black Ops be the one who should have this Mission? And how come the client asked Konoha for assistance and not some other villages?"

A tired sigh, "I also had thought of letting the ANBU's do this mission that's why I sent the elite group of the ANBU's for the mission earlier on…but…" as they gaze upon the Fifth, it was evident that she was in deep worry as well.

'_This only happened when she has bad news.' _Shizune thought with worry as she looked at her Mistress with concern. _'Things must be getting very serious…'_

"What happened, Hokage-sama?" Ino asked. Tsunade rubbed her forehead and answered with a tired tone of voice "…everyone of the ANBU's that I sent were all defeated but not killed by the assassin. Though the ANBU's were able to at least relocate the client to a safer place, he fears that it is not enough to protect him. And you also don't have to worry at all if you think you're the only ones that are going. I had sent messages to the remaining Rookie 9 and Guy's team to meet you at the destined location. Not only that, the other villages are also sending their best ninja's to aid the client."

"You mean each and everyone?" Naruto asked disbelief written all over his face. Tsunade nod at this which caused everyone to keep quiet until Sasuke asked something which now caught their attention.

"If the assassin did defeat the ANBU Black Ops that were sent… then why hasn't the assassin killed the client if he had such an opportunity to do so?"

"Sasuke does have a point at that matter, Tsunade-sama." Shizune, up until now had not spoken a single word finally spoke, looking at her Mistress together with everyone else.

Before she could even spoke a single word, Tsunade had to cover her ears when a loud voice which she could practically compare to a banshee suddenly unraveled itself from the silence…

"I GOT IT!!!!!! I know why the assassin didn't kill the client! YEAH!!! That has got to be it!!! I am truly smart…. Believe it!" a very wide grin printed itself on Naruto's face. He sat cross legged and crossed armed on the floor while nodding up and down with that grin of his.

Everyone stared at him with a look of utter confusion yet total exasperation for they knew that whatever came into that mind of Naruto's, it never will be good at all and never will be for a lifetime since he's known for the lack of intelligence. And everyone knows that.

"Naruto, what are you talking about?" Ino spoke while gritting her teeth with irritation. Compared to Sakura before, Ino has the worst temper as it is. Naruto just gave her his brilliantly annoying grin that made a vein pop up her head. Naruto is one guy that is truly hard to figure out and definitely, no one would figure him out.

"Na-ru-to…"

The grin that was on Naruto's face began to slowly disappear as he heard a very, very cold voice slowly saying his name. Since he was looking at Ino when she asked, he had to move his head to face the owner of the voice and when he looked…

…he really had believed that he's dead because of the strong dark aura surrounding the Fifth Hokage. Honestly! Not only Naruto, but even Ino, Kakashi and Shizune are edging towards the sides away from Naruto. Sasuke edged only a little bit with a small shiver running down his spine. _'Tsk. She's one scary Hokage.'_

"…Stop interrupting this important discussion with your annoyingness."

"HEY! I'm not being annoying!! It's not my fault the assassin is waiting for me, the great Uzumaki Naruto, to kick his butt to the afterlife! Believe it!"

A heavy silence befalls everyone…WHERE ON EARTH DID HE GET THAT IDEA!!!??

"Naruto…what are you talking about?" Kakashi slowly asked his enthusiastic blond student who was glaring at the Fifth. Honestly, '_he doesn't really respect the Fifth does he…?_' Naruto, being as he is, pouted making his face look like that of a fox before he answered, "Hmph… I'm just saying that the assassin didn't attack the client because he's waiting for me… that's the only explanation…"

Awkward silence…

Sigh… "I'll give the details to your team leader, Kakashi; make sure to meet tomorrow morning as early as possible. We can't do things in a slow pace knowing that we have a very important client to protect. Make sure that he lives… he is the only one that has information about the Akatsuki and its members. Knowing this, I have a feeling that the assassin might be hired by the Akatsuki or the assassin, 'Black Reaper', is a member of the organization himself… so be careful. You may go."

Tsunade dismissed as they all ignored what Naruto said… one way of knowing how to get the irritation out of their system because of Naruto, was to ignore the blonde completely… which of course made Naruto annoyed. Its just plain payback.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

"It's time…" a strong breeze came as the figure atop a huge rock near a waterfall and lake whispered. Black cloak swayed with the breeze as the clouds moved with the wind. The sun covered and a shadow of the cloud lands onto the black cloaked figure who gave a small blank smile before disappearing in a whirl of black leaves. "…things are getting interesting in this mission."

A few meters away from the huge rock, below the waterfalls and near the huge lake, a small cottage like mansion hidden in genjutsu is being protected with different traps and a faint essence of different chakra signatures were there all around the cottage, alert and awake.

Not more than sixty to seventy well trained ninja's were alert as they protected a single person in one of the rooms. The cottage was big enough to house at least eighty people. The cottage is practically that of a mansion of some sort than an actual cottage but it had traps and hidden guards all around…

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**A/N: **Chapter one finished… sorry if it's a little crappy and if it's short… I can't think properly in front of a computer that much… but I hope you like it anyway… ja for now. I'll try to update soon as I could


	3. Hunters and Preys

Author's Note: chapter two finally here as well… sorry for the long wait… I had a hard time thinking when I'm in front of the computer. But when I'm writing on a paper, I practically could think well about the story I'm writing… please read and review…

I do not own Naruto or its characters…

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_BLACK BLOOD SCARLET EYES_

_Chapter Two:_

_**Hunters and Preys**_

~X~x~X~

Trees' blurred in sight as four ninja's jumped from tree to tree towards their destination. The forest quiet as they travel, only hearing the sounds of the birds as they continue to sing while some other huge insects are also there, gliding or slithering along the tree tops and tree trunks in the forest.

As early as four in the morning, they all left towards their destination and to meet the other rookies and Guy's team as soon as they could. They had received the information that Tsunade had given to Kakashi and found out that the client , once being a member of the Akatsuki, betrayed the group after finding out that he was being used and that they were the ones who ordered the death of his sister that was the only family he had that he was protecting.

Because of that, he disappeared in one of the missions that he was given and surrendered himself to the authorities of Konoha, five months ago. He was not targeted for the last five months not until a message was sent to him that he would be killed in the next full moon, which in fact would be five days from now.

When he surrendered himself, he gave his consent on helping Konoha and the other villages against the Akatsuki. Unfortunately for them, the Akatsuki seems to know what would happen when the client betrayed them. Every place that the client told them that the Akatsuki are mostly in was true but they couldn't find the Akatsuki members in them. The only possibility they could think of was that the Akatsuki had left the hideouts and made a new one.

The Akatsuki hadn't tried to kill the traitor until that night when they were attacked by an unknown person. The way that they assassin allowed them another chance to hide the client seemed to be the work of a very well known assassin that recently emerged from nowhere.

No one knows if it's a he or a she but neither ways, the assassin known by the name of 'Black Reaper'. Known to give a letter on when the person would die, no one was able to stop the Black Reaper from doing his/her job.

Even if the gender is unknown, they all believed that the Black Reaper is a male, though a lot of ninja's does not believe such thing because it might just be a trick on which the assassin wants them to believe.

Even so, no one was able to tell who Black Reaper but the way the well known assassin does his assassination is fairly distinguished because the victims were all killed in the same way, 'heads cut off'.

Brutal it may seem but they would not believe that it's a psychopath because how the victims head were slice off were clean and possibly, they were killed fast without them realizing it.

There were no evidence of struggles done by the victim and the ones that are protecting the victim were not killed but were knocked out unconscious and stayed in a comma for at least two days with no injuries or just a few injuries if they tried to fight. Once they wake up, they had no recollection of what happened at all. So practically, they had no real leads as to who the well known assassin is.

"I can't believe someone could be as skilled as that…" Ino remarked when Kakashi told them while they ran, the information they received form the Fifth.

Kakashi nodded. Understanding what the kunoichi feels. "I know how you feel about this. It's hard to be confident about protecting your client if you don't even know how to protect yourself. Even if you aren't going to be killed, it's still hard to feel safe knowing that you could be attacked from anywhere plus the person we have to protect is practically important enough that one wrong move and a slight slacking could cause fatal damage."

"How come they just tried to kill the client now? Why hadn't they done it before, before he could even leave their organization? Why wait for five months before they make a move?" Ino asked again.

"That's if the Akatsuki are behind this…" Sasuke suddenly spoke in his usual cold tone of voice. Everyone listened to Sasuke at that, contemplating at what he just said. "What do you mean by that, Teme? Isn't it obvious that it's the Akatsuki that are behind this?" Naruto exclaimed as he stares at Sasuke questionably. Sasuke just shrugged before he continued.

"If it's really the Akatsuki behind this assassination… shouldn't they be the one who should send one of their members to do the job? Why let a well known assassin do the job if they could do it themselves…"

"Tsunade-sama did say that the assassin might be hired by the Akatsuki or might probably be a member of the Akatsuki…'might' I say… we still wouldn't know because we have no information that's good enough to even tell us who the assassin is. All we could do is ensuring that the client would be safe and capture the assassin at all cost." Kakashi replied though he himself is also contemplating at what Sasuke said.

That is weird in itself but they don't have any evidences leading to the Reaper being a member of the Akatsuki. And if the Black Reaper is a member of the Akatsuki, shouldn't the Reaper be more cautious about his ways than letting anyone know how he/she does things?

Sighing and shooking his head to erase the possibilities and questions, Kakashi signaled his team mates to move faster in order for them to reach the cottage before dark. They were midway before they reach the place the client is and getting there as early as they could, would benefit them better rather than being late.

With the swiftness of their movements and the speed that they exhibited, all four of team seven disappeared in a blur heading towards their destination. Not noticing the chakra signature that had been following them close behind which then suddenly stopped and disappeared altogether.

-----

"Guy-sensei, I could see four chakra signatures approaching the cottage." A stern voice of non other than Neji Hyuuga spoke as he activated his Byakugan and stared at the forest infront of him. His team advisor, Might Guy, who stood near him, nodded at his report.

"They might be Kakashi's team. But to make sure, we'll wait until they neared the clearing before we show ourselves." Was Guy's stern command as he headed towards where the other sensei's and Black Ops captain's are.

"Hai."

----

Now inside the meeting room, everyone of the sensei's with the exception of Kakashi who had yet to arrive with his team, are ready to make a tactic with some Black Ops captains and with Shikamaru who in fact became one of Konoha's best tactician.

Once Guy had entered, everyone looked at him for any kind of message. Nodding to them, he indicated that Kakashi would be arriving soon. "So he's finally here…" Kurenai stated with a small hint of relief.

They all know that Kakashi's team had just been told just yesterday about the mission so they were patient enough to wait a bit longer for team seven. As they waited for the arrival of the Copy Ninja of Konoha, the door suddenly opened and there revealed a silver haired adult with a mask covering half of his face and his hands place inside his pockets as he entered the room, not forgetting his signature greeting, "Yo!" Speak of the devil as they say.

"Nice to see you finally arrived, Kakashi."

Guy-sensei proclaimed in a calm voice while he gave Kakashi a grin that sparkled. Kakashi on the other hand just smile sheepishly as his sweat drop at Guy's smile. _'That smile always creeps me out'_

"Sorry to be late. I supposed we should start the meeting now. I already gave my team orders so you shouldn't worry about them as it is."

With a nod from one ANBU Black Ops that wore a cat mask, the meeting started and plans were laid out. They were so uptight with their discussions that they had not noticed the darkening of the sky.

Night came and everyone began to take turns in the patrol, none taking any chances even if there is still four days to go before the assassination attempt. They still don't know weather or not the assassination attempt would be done on the next full moon or it might be done anytime soon.

Each team had been given assigned grounds and what to do as new traps around the mansion/cottage were place and the old ones being re-made and re-improved to help them to slow the opponent down. They still contemplated the idea that they are not facing just one opponent at this but the feeling of having to fight one opponent is still at hand and in their minds until now.

-----

"This is really annoying!!! AAAAAAAAAARRRGGGHH!!!!! WHEN IS THE ASSASSIN COMING!!! I'M BORED!!!"

Naruto whined while he slumped into the couch inside the living room where he and the chuunins with Guy's team stayed to rest. They had just finished their patrol and were now resting. Naruto for all those time patrolling had been obviously annoyed that they were unable to fight and were still waiting for the assassin to come.

It had been the third day of their stay and they still had to wait for two more days before the so-called arrival of the 'Black Reaper'.

"Just shut up Naruto and be patient for once. We can't loose concentration at a time like this." Tenten exclaimed while she worked on cleaning her weapons that doesn't seem to lessen at all.

"She's right. We don't even know who we're dealing with and what the assassin looks like. We have to be on guard at all times. If our opponent could already defeat thirty ANBU's and get close to the client, we can't assume that this one is not strong at all." Neji agreed as he looked at everyone, especially to the now pouting Naruto with his cold pearl colored eyes.

"How would we even know if the assassin would even be here just like the message he sent if don't even know anything about him?" Choji asked, munching some chips while he sat next to the now sleeping Rock Lee.

Lee had been helping Guy-sensei with some errands that exhausted him enough to make him fall sleep after eating. No one tried to disturbed him for that matter.

Kiba, who was lying down and making his now large dog Akamaru as a pillow exclaimed with a grin. "Akamaru and I could help in that. Our nose could detect whoever it is that isn't one of us. We practically remembered each and every one's scent so that shouldn't be a problem…"

"B-b-b-but-t wh-w-what i-if th-the assassin-n c-c-could s-s-till g-get p-p-pass Th-thro-through u-u-s?"

Hinata's timid question created a new awkward silence as every one was left to ponder on this. She had a good point about that. There is a good possibility that the assassin knows how to at least make his scent vanish just enough to make his kill. No one spoke for as long as they remembered… that is until…

"AHHH!! Who cares!!! No one is getting pass me even if that guys a monster or something!" the exclamation made by Naruto made them smile, grin, snicker, or smirk.

Naruto's right, there was no use for them to ponder about it if they can't even be sure that they could defeat their opponent to begin with. "I'm going to get some sleep… you guys could ponder about that as long as you want, but I'm outta here!"

"Wait up, I'm coming… I'm bushed as it is."

"I'm coming."

"Me too."

"Hinata-chan, let's get ready for bed."

"H-h-hai…"

"I'm coming too, Teneten, Hinata-chan."

"What about Lee? Are we going to leave him here in the sala?" Kiba asked when he remembered about the sleeping bushy brow on the couch. Unfortunately though, no one tried to do anything about it cause the Guy-sensei look-a-like is snoring quite loudly as it is,

"Just leave him there… he'll wake up on his own."

Naruto, Kiba, Choji, Shino, Hinata, Tenten and Ino excused themselves as they headed towards their room leaving Sasuke and Neji on their own in the sala with the snoring and now drooling Lee. For all the time they were talking, Sasuke was the only one who remained silent all throughout the entire time period.

Now that no one was inside beside him and the Hyuuga genius, Sasuke opened his closed eyes and stares at the Hyuuga genius who nodded slightly that was faint to be seen by someone not near to them. With no warning, both the Uchiha and Hyuuga disappeared in a puff of smoke.

~X~x~X~

Outside the cottage/mansion, a lone figure dressed in black crouched down near a tree branch as to not be seen by anyone. The figure watched as the ninja's of Konoha talked and discussed about the assassin that would be coming two nights from now.

The figure may not have been able to hear it but was determined to watch in any ways. Watching until they left to go to their quarters which left the Uchiha and the Hyuuga alone with the dead-pan asleep guy with bushy brows on the room when suddenly, the Hyuuga and Uchiha disappeared in a puff of smoke.

'_They found me…' _though the figure thought about it inwardly, the expression of the figures eyes did not change. It remained as blank as a paper that has been left unwritten and slowly, without making any sudden noise from the leaves around, the figure in black disappeared into the night with a swift movement.

Running in an inhuman speed, the figure in black located two chakra nearing and without further ado, together with the gust of wind, the figure in black disappeared in a puff of smoke altogether leaving no trace of any existence behind. Now was not the time for them to find out and the figure did not expect to be found that easily even though it had been a week since the figure had been watching them.

'_I never knew that I'll find them here…it seems that the plans had changed…'_

_------_

Sasuke and Neji ran towards the inner part of the forest where they sensed a presence that was different from anyone else's. They felt the person found out that they sensed him or her and ran towards the northern part in an inhuman speed until, finally they lost track of the person.

"Who do you think it was, Uchiha?" Neji asked once he and Sasuke stopped at where they last saw and sense the person's chakra signature. "That mystery person was fast and by the way how we were outsmarted, he or she must not be someone to be looked down upon."

Sasuke just stared at his surroundings as he replied, "Neither ways, we can't be certain anymore of our privacy. If that person **is **the assassin that is sent here to kill the client, we can't let are guard down. We don't even know how long he had been able to eaves drop on our conversation and our daily routine for the past three days…we have to be more careful as it is."

With another nod from Neji, understanding where this was leading to, they both went back towards the others and to report to their sensei's about the mystery person that had been eavesdropping on them.

If their guess is right, then that person that had eavesdropped on them might be the one they were waiting for…

"Sasuke, Neji, where have you been?" Asuma asked as son as the two ninja's came inside the cottage like mansion. All the sensei's and the ANBU Black Ops captains were there waiting. Neji, who went in first, went to close the windows while Sasuke ensured that there are seals to prevent anyone from listening.

Everyone looked at the two with questioning looks –at least the sensei's did… its hard to know what the ANBU's expressions are especially since they all had mask—and a bit of confusion since never and I mean NEVER had the Uchiha and Hyuuga cooperate in something other than when there is a mission and even that is rarely in itself.

They look expectantly at the two when they seem to be positive enough that no one is going to be listening to them anymore.

"We happened to have sensed a ninja near the cottage that had been watching our every move. We don't know how long had that been but when we chased the intruder, we lost any trace and we don't also know how that intruder looks like…" Neji explained at once to the seniors.

Though he himself is a Jounin ninja, while the others are still chuunins, he is still is a newbie. Showing respect to his seniors is still in priority at the point. Every one looked at each other with slight seriousness and alarm but nothing really much changed in their expressions except for being calculative as it is.

"It seems that it wasn't just a feeling at all…" one of the ANBU said in a cold voice. The said ANBU belonged to the Water Country and had a mask of that of a shark. Every one of the ANBU's nodded at this and the others that did not understand looked at them for explanation.

"Before any of you came, we had been sensing a chakra signature near the cottage yet whenever we tried to follow and find the owner, we always ended up in a dead end. We've tried to be as secretive as we could." An ANBU from the Wind country spoke…

"How long had this been going on?" Guy asked.

"Before the first attack, before the message was sent to us. It stopped for a while then it begun again around about a week ago." An ANBU from the Mist country responded.

Everyone stored this information into their memory when Shikamaru asked in his usual bored tone of voice. "Ey, Neji, what was the pattern or the color of the chakra of that person that you and Sasuke recently tracked?" Not knowing where this is going, Neji, being his usual self just answered.

"The color of the chakra is a very dull shade of blue, almost white at that. I couldn't be sure of it because he was far from us and he was fast. But the pattern of the chakra was something I never seen before…" they all looked at Neji and Guy nodded for him to continue on what he was about to say, "…the chakra pattern is incomplete. The chakra doesn't go to the places in the body it should go to and most of all…the chakra suddenly disappears and reappears in a certain body part…"

Nodding with a calculative gaze, Shikamaru asked this time the ANBU's, "What was the pattern or color of the chakra you felt that had been watching you and that had attacked you?"

The ANBU from the Water Country answered. "The color that we saw, though it was faint was the usual blue. We don't know the pattern of it. Why do you ask?"

Instead if Shikamaru answering to it, it was Kakashi who told them instead while of course reading that perverted book of his, "To know if it is the same person. Since both have already different colors of the chakra, we could assume that it is not the same person. The one who attacked and the one who was recently here are different."

"But what if they are both the same person? Maybe he just changed his chakra signature or something similar, probably a bloodline trait…" Kurenai reasoned out the possibility but both Shikamaru and Kakashi just shook their heads.

"It would highly be unlikely if it's the same person since no one could just changed their chakra like that even if they did use the a Transformation Jutsu. And there is no bloodline trait that could do that as well." Kakashi reasoned.

Shikamaru then continued, "We could assume that they could be subordinates in a certain way… that is the only reason I could think of at the moment, but whatever the case, we can't assume that the latter one is neither an enemy nor an ally." Things were getting complicated and this is also another problem. With an annoyed look plastered on his face Shikamaru just sigh with a mumbled _troublesome._

"Right now all we could do is to ensure that the client is safe and that we could capture the assassin dead or alive." Mist ANBU concluded.

"That time would be coming soon; we need to be prepared and to ensure that we could take down the assassin before he could get near the informant." Everyone nodded before they all went to their respective chambers and patrols that were to be done.

For all those time that they were discussing, Sasuke had remained silent and was listening to them. He had not said a single word and gave all the explanation giving to be done by Neji. He had no intention at all to be in this discussion. He was thinking about that mysterious person that had just spied on them.

'_He was fast and skilled…chakra well controlled but somehow, I have a feeling that he deliberately allowed us to find him at some point…clothes covered in a black cloak—" _Unfortunately though for Sasuke, black cloaks are practically common among all ninja's and ordinary citizens alike _"—the only thing that was kept from being hidden is the eyes but it was too dark to see what the eye color is."_

Annoyed and silently cursing for the lack of information on the person and to know who it might be, Sasuke decided to walk to his room and rest for tomorrow. He will find out who that person is and he will find some information about his brother's whereabouts. One way or another. He still wants revenge for the murder of his clan and he won't stop until he gets want he wants.

~X~x~X~

One by one, each ninja left to do their respective patrols or to rest leaving one ninja behind. It took awhile before the said ninja left and headed towards where he's supposed to go, probably to rest or to do some patrolling. But neither ways, had the figure in black just watched as they did their jobs.

Under the moonlight of the half moon, the night was illuminated by the soft glow of the moon. The black cloaked figure just watched as the protectors of his pray alert themselves.

'_Even if they do this…it would still be useless. This is my prey and I will have my kill no matter what.' _A sinister grin plastered upon the figures shadow covered face as he continued to watch in distance. _'Two more days and everything would end'_ and the figures grin widen at this thought as plans on how to attack developed in his mind...

…plans with images of blood and bone crashing screams echo in the night of the hunt that definitely would come out from his pray…

Silence…

"I think I'm becoming a sadist…" the figure's sweat dropped. Somehow, something's not right about this…

A change in the wind pattern…

"It seems that there would be a change of plans…a storm is coming and a big one at that and a hunter had just found out who my prey is."

Yep…things were truly going to be different…

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**A/N: **Sorry if its short, I'll do something about my writing in the future… and I did a few changes in each chapter but mostly on the paragraphs though, still, I hope you'll like it…


	4. The Battle and the Two Shadows: Part One

**A/N: Thank you so much for the reviews that was given to me… and about the Paragraphs, I'm trying to minimize it but with my imagination being useless in front of a computer, a lot has to be done… I'll try to do something about it so to my readers, please bear with me….**

**MarzSpy**: _thank you so much for the reviews that you have given me from the beginning of my story… I truly appreciate it and I will definitely do something about my paragraphs. I apologize for the late updates that's been happening, I really want to update soon but unfortunately, I had a hard time writing my current chapters even though I have all the things that would happen on my mind… hehehe… but don't worry, I will definitely do something about it… thank you again for the reviews, I truly appreciate it._

**Luka1Sakura: **_thank you for the review and I really am glad that you like my story… I will soon update my latest chapter but for now, I hope you'll like this chapter. I hope you could wait a little longer whenever I am unable to update fast. Thank you again for the review…_

** Lily : **_thanks for the review of my other story; sorry I haven't been reviewing yours. I've place it in Microsoft Word so that I could read your story at home…hehehe…don't worry' I'll review your story as soon as I have the guts to get out of my room and closet. Thank you so much for the reviews by the way, I'll make sure to make my story longer than it already is and about the brutality of the story, gomene, don't forget I'm quite a sadist when it comes to brutality and all (and my mom will vouch for me for that…)_

**I do not own Naruto or its characters… I am only a disclaimer…**

_BLACK BLOOD SCARLET EYES_

_Chapter Three:_

_**The Battle and the Two Shadows**_

_**Part One**_

~X~x~X~

Silence…

Nothing…

There was nothing at all….

No noise of animals, nor is there any chirping from the birds… everything has been so quiet that not even the rustle of the wind made any noise…

Something was definitely up. And it's neither bad nor good.

It seemed to be quite long since they'd been so focused. The moon now in its highest peak, while the gray clouds of the night too far to overshadow the silver moon. This was the time they had been anticipating, the day of the assassination. They were all ready and in position to make sure of the safety of the informant.

"Don't you think it's really quiet? I haven't heard any noise at all. Not even the night animals are making a noise let alone the wind." Kiba spoke as silent as he could yet enough to let the others hear him. They were all in position and ready but the silence had been far too much for them.

"The silence is too much. How long had we been waiting like this?" Ino complained while she gripped her kunai tightly with impatience. They we the third line, closest to the cottage where the informant is. They were all in their designated positions by matched team and ready to battle but not a single change had been done. The eternal silence continued in the forest as they waited.

Hinata, who by that time is near Ino, spoke. "A-a-about two h-hours and twen-twenty s-seven minutes, Ino-chan." In a low voice.

Looking rather incredulous, the blonde ninja snorted. "That long? Tsk. Can't believe it. Where is that damn assassin anyway? Don't tell me he freaked out. If that's what happened to him then he's not as strong and brave as I think he is… hn… why doesn't he just appear now anyway. "

Looking at the blonde ninja with a raised brow, Kiba snorted as well, as he spoke to the female ninja. "_Great_… _**just**_ _great_, Ino…"

Glaring at the dog boy, Ino snapped at him. "What? Why on earth are you snorting at what I just said?" what was wrong with what she said anyway?

"… because _Miss Big Mouth, _you just jinxed us for saying something like that."

"Oh _shut up, _Kiba. I'm just saying what's on my mind!" Ino retorted irritably as she glared at her companion who is near her and Hinata. "You can't blame me you know… if this assassin would just appear right now than we could get this job over with!"

"I-I-Ino-chan, K-Kiba-kun, please s-s-stop f-fighting…" Hinata spoke in that timid voice of hers as she tried to stop the upcoming fight that would surely come about soon enough.

Sighing as her comrade's glared at each other before viciously turning their heads to glare in the opposite direction, Hinata went into concentrating on her surroundings using her Byakugan. She had not seen any unfamiliar chakra signature as of late and nothing is different as far as she could tell. As she told her companions about it, they relaxed a small bit as tension risen from the quietness around them.

Tenten, Naruto and Choji stood a few meters away from them but near enough to hear Ino and Kiba argue, sigh or shook their heads but Choji just munch some cookies that he was able to bring as he watched the short bickering almost turning into a small war between the two.

At least that tension is out now…

They were all taken aback when a sudden growl came from Akamaru, "Grrrrr!!" as the large canine dog growled even louder making them all get in position at once. Something was coming. And soon enough, a chakra signature was felt but faint enough that it was hard to find. The figure ran in an incredible pace that's hard for normal eyes to see.

"Everyone!! He's coming!" with a sudden shout from Kiba, everyone from their row was able to defend themselves just in time to stop an attack that was meant for them.

Shuriken's, senbon needles, kunai's were thrown in their direction, and a lot of it at that. Over a hundred or so were directed in their direction and if it weren't from Kiba's sudden yell, they were definitely going to have a lot of injuries all right and possibly their death.

"What on earth is going on!!!?? There are just so many of these!!!" Ino shouted as the weapons that are aiming at them continued. "DAMN IT!!!! It's like these weapons are unlimited!!! Are these illusions or what?!"

Tenten herself seemed to be getting irritated as well as exasperated since they all deflected the weapons but the weapons itself does not diminish in number. Hinata had begun to have a hard time evading each and every one of the weapons and so is Kiba and Akamaru, Naruto, and Choji because for some reason the weapons seems to be getting faster and faster by the minute. Or was it just their weariness that made them think so…neh… probably not.

"I swear the attack is getting faster and faster by the minute!!!" Kiba shouted with no more restraint in his voice showing that he is utterly annoyed by the minute. "Damn it!!!! We have to do something or we're screwed!!"

"I-i-i-I c-c-can't s-see a-a-anyth-ing beyond half a-a m-m-mile…" Hinata's timid answer made them more frustrated! Hinata had been using her Byakugan to see beyond the attacks directed to them but she could see no apparent chakra signatures… not even from their comrades that were supposed to be in front of them.

"Could you see the ANBU's that are in front of us? The first and second squad?" Tenten asked while she dodged and block the weapons aiming at her.

Hinata shook her head at the same time as she dodge the upcoming attacks. They were all out of breaths but what bothers some of them who are actually thinking is the fact that the first and second squads that were supposed to be in front of them were gone! And not to mention that even with the non stop attacks, the place still stood in silence besides the constant shouts from most of them.

As if the place itself is sucking all the sounds they produce to only be heard in one part and not go beyond that border. It really felt weird and chilling but they're ninja's, and ninja's don't get frightened or get panicky that easily by anything. They also have a job to do which is more important as it is.

"This is getting ridiculous!!" Naruto screamed as a vein had finally popped in his head with irritation, "SHADOW CLONE JUTSU!!!! TIMES TWO! TIMES TWO! TIMES TWO!"

And right after the hand signs were finished, over at least two dozen clones appeared running full speed towards the source of the attacks only to be met with a sudden changed in surroundings. The clones disappeared as soon as they appeared leaving the original Naruto with his friends in a new environment.

"Wha--!!!" exclaimed the bewildered ninja's as they were now in a place completely different from where they were just a second ago.

The place was filled with mist that made it harder for them to see one another and instead of a cluster of trees and the cottage just in sight; they were greeted by a dark, forsaken and cold barren land with no trace of life and the soil seemed to be no longer fertile. This place is way too creepy than the cemetery and somehow, they agree to it in their own way.

"Where are we?"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Sasuke, what's wrong? You've been staring out the window for a good measure of time. Is there a problem?" Kurenai-sensei asked when she caught the Uchiha prodigy stare outside the dark with that serious and calculative expression he seems to always have.

Sasuke, who by now had gotten out of his sort of trance looked at the genjutsu expert with a serious expression. There was definitely something wrong about the whole situation because of the silence of the forest.

"Something doesn't seem right at all…something's up"

It was just a soft whisper of seriousness but it was enough for the genjutsu expert to then look outside and strain her ears to listen to the surroundings around her. And true enough, something was definitely not right about any of this. It was just too silent for anyone's own good. Last night, it wasn't this silent at all. Heck, it was noisy even when they were all asleep because of the owls, crickets and other night animals that lived in the surrounding forest. But now, there is not a single cricket singing, no night birds making a fuss, no wind blowing to rustle the leaves, no nothing, there is nothing at all. The place was just too silent and eerie.

"You're right," Kurenai whispered in response as she continued to listen, "I'll tell the other sensei's about this. Keep watch and report if anything changes in your position."

Deciding that something bad is going to happen, Kurenai gave Sasuke a nod of appreciation –after giving some further instructions— for having to sense such disturbance and headed to where the other senseis are. They had to know about the abnormality so that they could prepare for any upcoming attacks that they might least expected. After all, she hadn't received any transmission from the others that were outside when they had gone out for their patrol.

'_I hope nothing bad had happened to them… we can't let our guard down in any case.' _Kurenai-sensei thought while heading towards where the other senseis are and where the client is. They had grouped themselves in order to do their job well. Everything has been completely planned out but not knowing the skill of the assassin that is to come gave them the disadvantages.

How the heck would they know how the assassin would attack?! They practically have no clue about the 'Black Reaper's' skills and it only made them more and more anxious. How could they even be sure of their plan? All they could do right now is stand their guard and ensure that they won't fail their mission…hopefully.

As soon as Kurenai opened the door towards the client's room, she was greeted with a serious atmosphere.

"Is there any problem Kurenai?"

Kakashi asked behind the book that he was reading. On his left side was the ANBU Black Ops from the Water country sitting on a spare chair while on his other left is sat the ANBU Black Ops from the Mist Country standing motionless in one corner. Not too far from any of them, sitting at the middle of the room is their client. A black haired man with brown eyes around his 20's or early thirties sat on a chair, hands clasped together and his chin resting on it.

Kurenai looked at Kakashi and nodded, closing the door behind her before going forward just a bit before she spoke ensuring that the other occupants of the room were listening to the conversation.

"Sasuke, who is guarding the entrance, had commented about the lack of noise outside. I checked it myself and he is right when he said that something isn't right…" she began. They were looking at her expectantly to continue and continue she did. "…there is no noise, not from some insects, night animals or wind and the groups that we sent outside had not even once reported in the difference concerning their surroundings. It had been over two hours since they last reported. I have a feeling that the assassin might be near here already."

Shifting from his standing position to fully face at the genjutsu expert, "Did neither Guy-sensei nor Asuma-sensei reported to you? How about the other chuunins have they reported to you?" The Mist ANBU asked.

Kurenai shook her head and looked at them form her position in front of the closed door. Apprehension loomed over the room as the information sink in. The assassin had made his move and they haven't even noticed it even though it has been hours, two at that. They were really dealing with a very skilled assassin and someone whose skills they have yet to know.

"What are we going to do about the teams outside?" the client, from his position, looked at the ninja's present in his room. It's obvious that he's nervous about the assassin and talking about the lost of communication from the others only worsened his condition.

It's not that easy being the one hunted ya' know! Maybe its okay when the one hunting you is a ninja you have data on but being hunted by a ninja, assassin or whatever it is out there that wants you dead that you have no data on and who could practically kill you even with very skilled ninja's protecting you is not something you can't get nervous about. But though that's the case, the client seems to be able to hold his gaze as he stared at the ninja's present and not to mention keep his voice even.

He was once a ninja and though he no longer is one, some old habits just die hard in his case…

"We can't be certain that anything bad had happened to them but we can't also be certain that nothing had happened to them. All we could do is ensure your safety and stay here until we could capture or kill the assassin. As far as what we know, whether or not the assassin had finally made his move, we don't have to worry about our comrades' safety since surely they are unharmed and are probably unconscious right now. What we have to worry about is if the assassin has finally infiltrated the place or not."

Kakashi spoke while still reading his perverted book. Knowing that what he said was true, the client just returned from whatever he was doing… mainly, staring at nothing as they waited with alert senses.

Outside the door of the client's room, Sasuke continued to stare at the window from the transparent black curtains. Lights turned off to give the impression that the ones inside are sleeping and wearing a black pants and equally dark blue shirt with the Uchiha emblem sewed at the back, he easily blend in, in his surroundings. Eyes activated but covered with dark locks of hair, he stared at the darkness in his surroundings without shifting in his standing position from the very beginning.

After Kurenai-sensei had left him to his observations, Sasuke continued staring at the surroundings of the cottage. Quiet. Far too quiet for him. Just like before… before his clan's massacre. It is just so similar to it that he couldn't forget. He was just eight when that happened…

_**~Flashback~**_

_A young boy around eight years old ran along the dirt road going towards his home. It took him quite a while to finish his training to master shuriken throwing which caused him to come home late._

'_I hope Outo-san and Okaa-san wouldn't be angry at me for being late.' The young boy thought as he continued to run._

_Chest heaving from exhaustion but nonetheless continued running as to not be late more as he already is, the young boy with raven hair and eyes is determine to get home as soon as he could. Without noticing as of yet, he ran on the dark road even though it is barely seven in the night. Everything is dark and quiet, no noise from all around him. And as soon as he had noticed such quietness and darkness surrounding him, he stopped._

_Looking p behind him, on a wooden electric pole, he swears he just saw someone on top of that pole just now. _

_Shrugging it off to think about it later, he continued running towards his destination…_

"_How come it's so quiet? It's barely the time for dinner and everything should have been lightened for the night…why is it that there are no lanterns in any house?"_

_Barely stopping but slowing down from running, Sasuke Uchiha from the Uchiha clan looked around him. Everything around him is quiet and dark. No lantern, no candles, no nothing. Something was up and he doesn't like it one bit. His surroundings gave him the creeps as it is and now that he was near him home… it had just gotten worse._

_The traditional Japanese house is as dark as the houses inside the Uchiha town and not a single soul seems to be anywhere. Walking slowly into the dark house, passing the small koi pond that happened to be as equally motionless that not even the water surface seems to be moved by the koi fishes swimming in it, Sasuke gazed at it quizzically. As he remembered, the fishes were usually still active at this hour. But now, they seem to be asleep which usually happens when they are fed after the family eats dinner._

_Noting the changes, the young Sasuke decide to continue on heading towards his home to ask his parents about the strangeness that is happening in the Uchiha town. It wasn't like this just yesterday but today, something is going on. Sliding the paper thin shoji door, the young Sasuke went inside the dark room that is, if he could remember with the darkness, the living room where the family usually sits when eating dinner. When he opened the door, darkness greeted him with its cold and eerie smiles._

"_Outo-san? Okaa-san? Nii-san?"_

_Nothing… there's no sound… only the quiet darkness gave its presence. Deciding to go inside and search for his missing parents and brother, unknowing of the brutal sight he has yet to encounter, Sasuke left his sling bag on top of the table of the dark living room and slowly walked towards the different rooms in the household. _

_Sliding the door of the kitchen, his brother's room, his parent's room and even the guest rooms, there is no sign of any one nor is there a sign of the living at that. Sighing with nervousness, young Sasuke walked towards the last place he hasn't gone to, the Training Room. _

_Walking towards the training room, nervous as well as anxious as to what is really going on, sliding the thick shoji door open, the young Uchiha was greeted with a horrible sight that a child like him should not have seen at all._

_There, at the middle of the room lay the dead and bloodied bodies of his mother and father. Motionless and cold as another figure stood in front of the bodies motionless and face covered by the shadows but the attire illuminated by the white moon._

_Clearly showing the attire of an ANBU Black Ops and a male at that, the shadowed figure stood still and seemingly looking at the horrified child in front of him, just in front of the opened door. The said child stared at the dead bodies of his beloved mother and father with a gaze of fear. Body trembling with fear yet not wanting to cry no matter how much he wanted to, Sasuke finally looked at the figure that is half clad by the shadows of the room._

_Sasuke glared, or tried to. "Who are you!? What did you do to everyone!? Why did you kill Outo-san and Okaa-san? Tell me!" drawing his shurikens with trembling hands from the pouch from his left hip side, readying it just in case he has to throw it to the still figure, the young Sasuke did his best to calm his shaking hands and fast beating heart._

_The still figure just continued to stand there, not moving –but clearly breathing – watching the young Uchiha glare at him with an underlying fear so evident that it was not hard to see. Minutes pass yet it felt like hours as the two figures stood there in that dark, one stood motionless like a statue yet breathing while the other quivered slightly with fear but held his ground no matter how much fear he is feeling._

"_Answer me!! Who are you and what have you done!?"_

_A breathe of sigh, the figure walked slowly and silently towards the child allowing the moon to fully allow him to come into sight._

_Eyes wide with disbelief and more fear came into the view as the figure that is now emerging itself from the shadows stood a foot away from him. Short black shoulder length hair tied in a low ponytail, equally black raven eyes with lines just below the eyes showing how much sleepless nights he has gone through stared at him with nonchalance, mocking and teasing him with no mercy._

_Sasuke whispered with his trembling voice. "No…" More than ever, he could not believe that this person is actually the person that he knew… it's just impossible!_

"_No! …no! …no! …no! This isn't true!!! This can't be true!!! No… this is all a lie!! This can't be true…" _

_Throwing the shurikens that he has left that are in his hands, Sasuke tried to ran out of the Uchiha manor and onto the streets to get help. He just __**can't**__ believe it… he just __**won't**__ believe it! He… he could never do it! Not him, not him! He was his idol, his goal. He had always wished to be just like him and to grow up as strong as him but seeing this… he… he… he can't accept it at all! But when he had turned to leave, shurikens came flying towards him and embedded itself in his right arm._

_Stumbling down with a thud on the floor, "AHH!" he screamed. Pain traveled in waves in his arm and throughout his body. _

_This proves it; the pain he now felt proves that this is not a dream, that this is real as it is. No illusion, not even a nightmare._

_Trying to move, disregarding the pain that he felt, Sasuke stood up, clutching his injured arm as he ran out of the manor. Attempting to escape and head to where a lot of people are, knowing that he would be safe there and he might be able to ask for help at the same time. There was no way he could fight __**him**__ let alone wanted to but nonetheless, believing that __**he's **__the one doing it is just _

_The person whom he had trusted, his idol his god had turned out to be the one who killed their parents!!_

'_**NO!!!' **__Sasuke continued to scream in his mind.__** 'NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! This has to be a dream! An illusion! Nii-san… Nii-san could never do such a thing to our family… our clan!!!'**_

_Running in a continuous straight and endless road, darkness surrounds him. The full moon shining through the black clouds in the sky… he stopped._

_In front of him on top of a wooden pole stood a figure clad in an ANBU Black Ops attire… the person whom he was trying to run away from stood there with ease, staring at him from atop. He stared at him with terrified black orbs while the latter stared back with nonchalant and empty black orbs._

_Standing from that height, "Even if you run as fast as you can, you can't escape me…" the older Uchiha sibling spoke in a cold dread voice. Staring down at his younger brother with no emotion, in a blink of an eye, he suddenly disappeared from Sasuke's sight, reappearing only at his back._

_Trembling. "Nii-san… why? How could you?"_

_Voice still and cold, "… because I have to. I want to test my power and skills and fighting against another Uchiha is the only way to know how strong I am and I'm quite disappointed to know that our own clan members are weak. I have no intention of staying with weak people. To test my strength, I must fight only the best in order to know my limit." Form unwavering, eyes apathetic as he stared at his younger brother's quivering form._

"_Is that the only reason? Why kill Outo-san and Okaa-san? Why kill them and the others who are, to begin with, not even ninja's? Why?"_

"_Father, because he is of no use. I'm tired of him telling me what to do. Mother, because she is weak. And the others… because they can't even fight me and so, I killed them. That is the only reason I have. They are only a hindrance to me to begin with…"_

"_Nii-san… how could you?"_

"_This is life… Little brother… this is how things go."_

_Scared beyond everything and hatred grew in his heart, Sasuke turned his body to look at his older brother with hate and fear filled eyes. Looking up, he saw the appearance of his brother, face streaked with a few spots of blood and eyes crimson in color._

_Without him realizing it, he had been staring at his brother's crimson eyes… instead of the Sharingan, a different symbol had been carved (in a way) in the eyes of his brother. It was similar to a shuriken but with only three edges, twirling._

_He hadn't realized that he was already staring into those red orbs when the surrounding suddenly changed… all he could hear back then before the scenery changed completely to another was the voice of his older brother…_

_Everything he saw was the worse nightmare that he could ever have. He saw each and everyone of the clan killed by his older brother. No one was able to even react to defend themselves and his brother continued the killing without even flinching. He couldn't hear the screams but he could feel it. It scared him to see how the massacre happened; it scared him more when he saw how his parents were killed by 'him'. _

_It was repeated over and over, like a broken record. Starting from the beginning and going back to the end, over and over until he couldn't handle it and he collapsed…_

_Letting the darkness consume him completely, making everything blur…allowing himself to succumb to the darkness will just to escape the pain he felt…_

"_If you wish to kill me,_

_Hate me, detest me,_

_And survive in some unsightly way…_

_Run and run and cling to life."_

_**~End of Flashback~**_

That was the last thing he heard before everything went black and when he woke up, he was in the hospital bed, his arm that was bruised by the shurikens covered up in bandages. He though it was a dream at first when he woke up, but the pain on his arm didn't made it easier for him and it became worse when he heard the nurse's talking about the Uchiha massacre that happened last night and how he is the only one that survived.

It was painful and having to hear the same deafening silence just like before isn't helping him at all. He vowed on the day of the burial of his clan that he would avenge them by killing his brother, Itachi, the one who had done it, person who took everything away from him than darkened night. He vowed to take revenge and restore the lost clan with his own hands no matter how long it takes. And he'll make sure it happens no matter what.

Silently observing his surroundings with unwavering gaze, he hadn't noticed a black figure standing at his back, observing him with emotionless dark azure, nearly black orbs. Just watching as he stared at the darkened forest, waiting for anything out of the ordinary, besides the one that he had already observed.

The figure just stood there unwavering and unmoving, just observing the Uchiha Prodigy who had been watching the outside surroundings all this time not noticing the unwelcomed guest who is just staring at him.

---------------

**A/N: **_Sorry took so long, Chapter Three finished, part two next in line… thank you so much to those who had given me their reviews…_


	5. The Battle and the Two Shadows: Part Two

**A/N: **_Chapter four up and ready to go… thank you and sorry for the wait. Hope you like this chapter. Sorry it took so long to upload, class had started and I have to go back on waking up early…D: it sucks for me… no more late night writing D: I cant think properly nowadays in my story if its not night… more specifically, Midnight.. hehehe…I've also been studying for the first periodic exam for the school year and it sucks; Track n' Field training is making me wince every time I walk not to mention when I have to go up some stairs just to get to the next class… hehehe… but finally, chapter four is finally done!!! *do the happy dance*_

_**I want to thank the following Authors for reading my first chaptered fan-fiction of Naruto and for being so kind to me as well….okay… here goes… thank you to the following:**_

** Lily , Luka1Sakura, MarzSpy, ****The Blood Thirsty Sliver Wolf, Dazzel Angel****, ****moonlight ookami…. **Thank you so much for the reviews you have all given me and for liking my story…thank you so much, it really made me happy (tears of Joy); D

XD: Before I forget, for one question that was asked… Itachi would soon appear, but in the first few chapters, there would be at least a few flash backs and slight appearances I'm going to make for Itachi. XD

**(By the way, before I forgot, I edited some of the previous chapters… though it's more on the paragraphs but there are some parts I added and edited though I'm sure no one would notice… I only edited some parts so that it would be compatible with the future chapters especially for chapter Four and Five (and probably Six as well), but hey, just to make sure…)**

**I do not own any of the characters of both anime and manga of Naruto… I am only a disclaimer. But I do own the OC's…**

_BLACK BLOOD SCARLET EYES_

_Chapter Four:_

_**The Battle and the Two Shadows**_

_**Part Two**_

~X~x~X~

_**With Naruto and Co~ **_

___RECAP~_

_Shuriken's, senbon needles, kunai's were thrown in their direction, and a lot of it at that. Over a hundred or so were directed in their direction and if it weren't from Kiba's sudden yell, they were definitely going to have a lot of injuries all right and possibly their death. _

"_What on earth is going on!!!?? There are just so many of these!!!" Ino shouted as the weapons that are aiming at them continued. "DAMN IT!!!! It's like these weapons are unlimited!!! Are these illusions or what?!" _

"_I swear the attack is getting faster and faster by the minute!!!" Kiba shouted with no more restraint in his voice showing that he is utterly annoyed by the minute. "Damn it!!!! We have to do something or we're screwed!!"_

"_I-i-i-I c-c-can't s-see a-a-anyth-ing beyond half a-a m-m-mile…" Hinata's timid answer made them more frustrated! Hinata had been using her Byakugan to see beyond the attacks directed to them but she could see no apparent chakra signatures… not even from their comrades that were supposed to be in front of them._

"_Could you see the ANBU's that are in front of us? The first and second squad?" Tenten asked while she dodged and block the weapons aiming at her._

_Hinata shook her head at the same time as she dodge the upcoming attacks. They were all out of breaths but what bothers some of them who are actually thinking is the fact that the first and second squads that were supposed to be in front of them were gone!_

"_This is getting ridiculous!!" Naruto screamed as a vein had finally popped in his head with irritation, "SHADOW CLONE JUTSU!!!! TIMES TWO! TIMES TWO! TIMES TWO!"_

_And right after the hand signs were finished, over at least two dozen clones appeared running full speed towards the source of the attacks only to be met with a sudden changed in surroundings. The clones disappeared as soon as they appeared leaving the original Naruto with his friends in a new environment._

"_Wha--!!!" exclaimed the bewildered ninja's as they were now in a place completely different from where they were just a second ago._

_The place was filled with mist that made it harder for them to see one another and instead of a cluster of trees and the cottage just in sight; they were greeted by a dark, forsaken and cold barren land with no trace of life and the soil seemed to be no longer fertile. This place is way too creepy than the cemetery and somehow, they agree to it in their own way._

"_Where are we?"_

~End of Re-Cap~

"Where are we?"

The six Chuunin ninja's looked around them as they stood in a dark, forsaken and cold barren land covered with thick mist. They stood bewildered and creep-ed out by the place. This is worse than a cemetery let alone a mass grave. Everything is so eerie and deserted that they were so sure no one lives in this place at all.

"Where on earth are we? What just happened?" Tenten asked after a few moments of bewildered silence that befall them when they first, in a way, arrived in this creepy place.

The others just shook their heads in response without thinking while some are actually just, well, gaping! Like idiots! Oh well… can't be helped. After all, where could you possibly see such a place anyway? Nowhere. Unless of course you went to hell or you're in a genjutsu… but somehow… hell is more of the right place to describe their current surrounding right now…

Sighing slightly with discomfort with a bit of difficulty, Tenten composed herself as much as she could before looking around her surroundings. Trying to find anything that could possibly help them know where they are or just help them know what they could do to get out of this place.

Something tells her that something bad would happen but she doesn't know what. The place is just too much creepy and the more they stay the more the place creeps her out. Motioning everyone to stand near one another, they walked slowly towards north… or what they thought is north.

Walking for what seems to be hours did nothing to them as they were all practically seeing the same thing, the same surroundings.

Finally running out of patience, Ino stomped her right foot on the ground irritably while huffing before sitting down. "This is ridiculous!! We've been walking for what seems like hours and all I see around us are the same things!!! What is wrong with this place?! This has got to be a genjutsu!! That's the only reason I could think of and I know I'm right about it!!"

Tenten sighed. Ino may be right but none of them are genjutsu experts, there is nothing they could do but find an alternative way to destroy this genjutsu and fast. While they're stuck in this illusion, the assassin might have already gotten near the client.

"You may be right Ino but we can't do anything but find an alternative exit since none of us are experts in genjutsu. Plus, we don't have enough chakra altogether to destroy the genjutsu." Tenten reasoned as she too sat down. The others followed suit.

Ino just 'hmphed' again before she leaned against a huge smooth rock that was behind her. "I just can't believe that we got caught in the illusion! I mean, I don't even know when the illusion started!"

"Maybe it happened while every one of us was dodging the weapons…" Choji helpfully said. Though he was clutching his stomach an indication of his hunger since he was hungry with all the walking and he had somehow lost the food that he brought along with him when they were doing their watch before.

Tenten shook her head at Choji's theory. Though helpful, that was just not it at all. If the genjutsu really did happen while they were being attacked, they would have been in the illusion as soon as they dodged the first batch of the weapons being sent their way. Instead, they got caught up when…

After realizing it, Tenten's eyes widened a fraction as she exclaimed to her comrades. "I got it!"

Ino, Hinata, Naruto, and Choji looked at her questionably while Kiba just raised an eyebrow to indicate his confusion as to what the older girl just said and Akamaru just inclined his head to the side to indicate his own confusion. Hey, just because he's a giant dog, that doesn't mean he can't be confused, too ya' know.

Tenten looked at her confused comrades with a serious expression. "I think I know now when we got ourselves into the illusion…" she trailed off as everyone now looked at her with interest. "…I think that the Illusion might have been set when we were attacked by those weapons but it only activated when Naruto used the Kage Bunshin…"

"So you mean it was the Baka's fault that we're stuck here?!" Ino screeched and her screeched practically sounded like a banshee which made the others cover their ears.

Naruto looked at Ino with a scowling face, "Hey!!! Why is it my fault?! How was I supposed to know that using the Kage Bunshin would activate the illusion anyway!!"

"Well, why did you even have to use the jutsu anyway?! If you didn't use the Kage Bunshin, then we wouldn't even be here right now! It's your fault you baka!" Ino screeched, enraged at the male blonde.

"I had to use the jutsu to get to the one sending the weapons are, way faster! Let's see you think of something useful! All you ever do is complain and boss us around as if you're the captain in the first place!!" retorted Naruto with an equally loud voice, though more on the shouting part.

Before the argument between the two could continue, and become more aggressive, they were all saved from stopping the two blonds by a large black snake that came out of nowhere. Before the black snake could even hurt them with its tail, they were all able to leap away from the humongous tail.

"Where on earth did that snake come from all of a sudden?" Kiba asked half exasperated while Akamaru just growled at the serpent in front of him and his master. Ino and Naruto who were fighting were able to stay out of harms way just in the nick of time and were now in a fighting position. Tenten and Hinata were also in fighting position as well as Choji.

"Don't forget, Kiba, this is an illusion so anything could happen but we can't let our guard down at all cost. We can't be certain that we won't get injured just because our opponent isn't real." Tenten exclaimed as she and Hinata dodged the serpent's tail.

"Tenten-chan, the s-serpent i-i-s c-composed of p-pure chakra. W-what a-are we s-s-supposed to do now? We c-c-can't p-possibly w-w-win." Hinata spoke as she dodged another attack from the snake's tail. Right where the snake's tail landed, the ground had a crater the same as the serpent's tail size.

"If it's composed of pure chakra, we are definitely going to be hurt by it. Illusion or not, the person who made this surely is powerful." Tenten gritted her teeth out of frustration while evading the serpent's tail.

Naruto and the others were not fairing well as well and were very much exhausted. Every time they try to put harm in the serpent, it just somehow bounces their attacks back at them and it hurts like hell!

"I can't take this anymore!!! Whatever we do these things keeps on bouncing off our attacks…!" Kiba exclaimed with disdain as he and Akamaru evade another barrage of attacks that were sent back to them. "We won't last long if we keep this up!! None of our attacks is even effective!"

"Just shut your trap Kiba and help! We can't do this alone!! Be useful for once and do something!!!" Ino screamed at the Inuzuka clan member as she thrown a dozen kunai's and shurikens towards the serpent that is still attacking them.

Kiba growled with irritation as Ino screamed at him for not helping. He IS helping them but even if they fight this… THING, what damage could they even do?! That 'Thing', which is obviously a giant snake, has a very strong intent, to eat them alive after they are tortured which they are very much sure about.

"Shadow Clone Jutsu! Times two! Times two! Times two!"

In a huge puff of smoke, around two dozen of clones appeared and half ran towards the huge snake in pairs creating the '_Rasengan'_ while the other half were in three's creating the '_Sage_ _Rasengan' _and were all heading towards the giant snake in full force.

But before any of them could even go near the serpent, the said enemy turned into dust bewildering the shinobi's that it was fighting. When the Naruto clones distinguished their attacks when they saw that the snake disappeared, they were caught off guard by a sudden attack that landed on them from above. Thus, making every clone disappear into a puff of smoke and hitting the original hard enough that bones would definitely break.

"Naruto-kun!!!" Hinata screamed as the blonde was thrown towards the thick dead forest leaving a trail of broken trees.

"Naruto!!" Kiba screamed when he saw the blonde getting hit by something and got thrown back in the process towards the dead trees. Even Ino showed a reaction when the other blond was strongly attacked.

Tenten and Choji were worried as well. Though they were currently facing a predicament of being attacked by the same serpent that they thought had finally disappeared but to only reappear in the same manner it disappeared…

…dust.

'_There is no way we could win against this thing…' _Tenten thought as she and Choji did a combination attack but it still had the same results.

"Tenten, what – _gasp _- are we – _gasp ­_-­ going to do – _gasp -_? None of our attacks would work!!" Choji exclaimed as soon as he was able to dodge another swing of the serpent's tail. He was awfully exhausted and another round of this would definitely kill him. He practically had no more soldier pills left. Heck, he doesn't even know how long they had been in this illusion fighting.

It was not only him, Tenten, Kiba, Ino and Hinata were as equally exhausted as he is and Naruto, who had been swiped away from them and was headed towards the dead thick forest had not yet shown himself. Figures that he must have been injured badly causing him to recover first before getting to where they are or that he has fallen unconscious and could not fight. Neither way, they're toast. Literally.

Another swipe of the huge tail came towards them but before it could even get near, it suddenly disappeared together with their surroundings…

Now, they were back to where they were before they got stuck in the genjutsu, the same part of the forest that they were patrolling. Nothing changed in their surroundings, still the erie quiet forest that they recognized and at their back is the cottage, unharmed and doesn't seem to be infiltrated in any way.

"What the-!" Ino exclaimed through her ragged breathing.

Tenten stared wide-eyed at her surroundings. "We're…we're back? How?" just a couple of seconds ago, when the serpent's tail could get to them, she was certain that they still in the genjutsu, but when the tail vanished, so did the surroundings. _'Did the user overdo the usage of their chakra or did someone defeat him/her?'_

Akamaru growled as sigh of relief and collapsed on the huge branch where he and his partner, Kiba, are standing on. "Akamaru, are you alright!?" Kiba's panicked voice cut the silence as he went to his partner's side, looking for signs of injuries. Seeing none, he sighed in relief that Akamaru only collapsed due to exhaustion and so did he after the first impact of relief flooded through his mind.

Sitting next to the huge dog, he looked at his companions and saw that only Tenten was the one who is still standing, though barely, seeing that she is as exhausted as they are. The others were sitting down on the branches they were on, breathing heavily.

"What -_gasp-_ do you -_gasp-_ think happened? How are -_gasp-_ we able -_gasp-_ to get out -_gasp-_ like that?" Choji asked as he looked at his companions.

Hinata tried to say something but her labored breathing prevented her from saying anything. Figures that she would be exhausted; she had been using her 'Byakugan' way too much. Exhausting herself.

Ino was trying to steady her breathing, not catching the question while Kiba could not think of anything about what just happened. Tenten, who was the only one standing had finally controlled her breathing back to normal, "I have no clue as to what just happened but right now, we have to look for Naruto."

Everyone nodded, though still exhausted, followed the suggestion. They were all looking at their surroundings, ---

---and right in front of them is Naruto, barely conscious and badly injured, leaning on the thick trunk of the tree sitting down. Next to him is a black hooded figure, eyes black azure almost black in their opinion, kneeling down next to the barely conscious blonde healing his injuries.

They were about to speak and ask who he/she is but the figure stood up and looked at them with those blank eyes before heading towards where the cottage is…

… Which was now having some battle noise…

…they had no time, though exhausted and low on chakra (and would love to just stay put and rest), split up into two groups. Tenten, Kiba and Hinata went after the black figure while Ino and Choji had to stay behind.

Ino was told to see if Naruto was alright and if he is, they were to bring him with them and head towards where the cottage is. If Naruto is not doing fine, they were to stay and heal him, at least Ino would have to, since Choji is only there with them if Ino needs assistance in any way.

As soon as it was decided, though not yet fully recovered (Not even a fraction of recovery), Tenten's group headed towards the cottage in a much slower pace due to exhaustion…

-----

_Silently observing his surroundings with unwavering gaze, he hadn't noticed a black figure standing at his back, observing him with emotionless dark azure, nearly black orbs. Just watching as he stared at the darkened forest, waiting for anything out of the ordinary, besides the one that he had already observed. _

_The figure just stood there unwavering and unmoving, just observing the Uchiha Prodigy who had been watching the outside surroundings all this time not noticing the unwelcomed guest who is just staring at him._

The figure in black just stared and observed with unwavering gaze. Dark azure eyes that are nearly black watched as the Uchiha prodigy stared at the dark forest with unwavering gaze not noticing that someone was behind him all this time, observing him with less interest and more on scrutiny.

She had been observing for over half an hour now and not even once did the Uchiha bothered to check his own surroundings let alone look at his back! What a disgrace…

'_I wonder how he became a Chuunin…what a pathetic ninja.' _The figure thought in disgust as she observed the supposed to be prodigy of the Uchiha clan. _'Even an amateur could sense through instincts and yet the Uchiha could not even use his instincts to locate me. Pathetic, someone such as him is not worth fighting against nor is he worth observing.'_

It was not that she is cold and disregards those that are weaker than her, but right now, observing a brooding Uchiha who can't do anything good with his life is the least of her concerns and not even worth her time. But since this is a mission, she can't just disregard things and people she would love to disregard altogether.

With one last look… and glare, towards the brooding black haired ninja, the once dark azure eyes that are nearly black changed to darker shade of azure ones that could rival an onyx in color.

Disappearing without a trace the black figure left the Uchiha alone. She had other business to attend to and this is more important than some pathetic ninja who belongs to some prestigious clan that was wiped out. He was none of her concern and he is not even worth her time.

Yes, this is more important than the Uchiha, more important than observing the Konoha ninja's more important than anything else…

This is more important than the worthless lives that are in the surrounding areas, because this is for the sake of those secrets that have to remain secrets…

Secrets that could lead to destruction when known by those that must not know and she will not allow those who will cause destruction to ever have the information at all cause. Even if it means she will eliminate the people whom she had known for the most of her life. She will do it if it's for the greater good and no one could stop her, no one could…

That is what she thought even after she had left the Uchiha and another intruder after observing the said person stand still on a branch overlooking the cottage as soon as she was out of the said place.

Not minding who it was, she headed towards the forest…

-----

Another black cloaked figure ran in a normal pace towards the cottage. After passing the squads that were now behind him, asleep, caught in a genjutsu that they were not even aware of that they were caught in. the black cloaked figure snickered, were they really ninja's? They were so useless and pathetic. _'My grandma could do better than that! And she's sixty! Hn. They are all one heck of a pathetic and useless group, where on earth did they learn all their ninja skills anyway?'_

The third and fourth line were useless especially the second and first. Without them realizing what just happened, they were all in the genjutsu. He didn't even have to use a lot of chakra in the first place. How lame could those ninja's get?!

Silently cursing and insulting the ninja's that he had caught in his genjutsu, the black cloaked figure did not notice a pair of dark azure almost black eyes following his very movements as he was going towards the cottage. The figure that was watching him disappeared towards the forest.

As soon as he was at least a near the cottage but far enough to be hidden in the trees in the forest, the cloaked figure stood on one of the tree's branch while staring at the transparent black curtains from one of the windows that seemed to be used at the moment.

Adjusting his chakra to flow in his eyes, he saw a lone black figure standing still looking out. And looking closely, he saw a small tint of red, perhaps from the person's eyes. As far as his observation has been going, that person behind the transparent black curtains could only be Uchiha Sasuke, the one who carries the last of the Uchiha Bloodline.

Smirking at the guy behind the curtain that he was sure that has not yet saw him, he decided to circle around the cottage and enter at the back. Well, even though he could enter in the front door, wasting his time to fight against a kid would only result in catastrophe. He had more pressing matters to accomplish and that is to finish the informant before the other person comes.

Well, that and to get out of the place 'BEFORE' the other person comes. Just because he's an assassin that doesn't mean he wants to get killed by the other assassin. And besides, he really doesn't care about the informant; he's just here to partly observe and partly to do the mission assigned to him. That's all really.

With a very much inhuman speed, the black cloaked figure dashed to the back side of the cottage like mansion with stealth while hiding his chakra signature from the people that might be inside the place besides the Uchiha that has been watching from the window in the dark room.

Getting to the back door had been too simple in his opinion. No one noticed him at all but it made him more cautious, after all, even if he did hide his chakra from being sensed, there is one person whom he knows that had sensed him and that person could be anywhere in the surrounding area by now.

Not wasting his time any longer and placing himself in danger, the black hooded ninja silently crept inside the house and walked silently towards the room where the informant is. Knowing full well that two great ninja's are inside and both are practically experts in genjutsu; he had to be more careful, not only because of the two jounins that are inside but also because of the other genjutsu user that is staying in the living room.

Being careful in his footsteps, masking his chakra and his scent as much as he could and he is able to, the black hooded figure went to a stop as soon as he is in front of the door.

'_I wonder how I should enter… should I open the door up and eliminate the client at once or should I knock and allow them to open the door for me and then knock them out and eliminate the client.' _The black hooded figure thought for a while. Well, even if he is here in an assassination mission, he still has to carry out the formalities if possible and barging in someone else's room… _'Well I amend; I already am not carrying out the formalities anyway…so I guess I should just barge in and do my job…yeah, that's a good idea…'_

Before he could even do what he already had decided, fate was cruel to him alright because as soon as he made a decision on what to do, the door opened and right in front of him is the target and at his back is the two jounins, Kurenai and Kakashi.

Driven by instincts at the suddenness of their appearance in front of him, the black hooded figure moved in reflex and sliced the targets head off before any of the jounins could even react and disappeared afterwards, leaving the two bewildered and stunned at seeing their client get killed right in front of their very own eyes.

Though bewildered they may have been, Kakashi was able to get himself composed and told Kurenai to call Sasuke and head outside to intercept the assassin, but was unable to finish his orders when sounds of metal clashing against each other was heard outside. Having a clue of what is going on; both jounins headed outside to see what is going on and probably help as well.

-----

Outside, Sasuke and the assassin, whom they had just encountered, were having a battle of swords. Sasuke had unsheathed his sword, 'Kusanagi' and had infused electricity on it as he swung it towards his opponent only to be blocked by an 'Earth Wall Jutsu'.

Without wasting a second, as soon as Sasuke had been blocked by the wall and is still trying to get his sword from being implanted in the earth wall, the assassin took this moment to strike his sword that is coated with purple poison towards the Uchiha only to be stopped by a snake that came out from Sasuke's sleeve.

Not wanting to get bitten by an obviously poisonous snake, the assassin somersaulted twice away from the Uchiha as the said ninja had finally got his sword out. The assassin, once landed in a safe distance away from the Uchiha made a few hand signs that Sasuke and Kakashi recognized as a Fire Jutsu.

"Fire Style. Great Fireball Technique"

The assassin cried out and fired a huge fireball from his mouth, it was more extravagant than that of an Uchiha's and more powerful when it comes to strength, and all three Konoha ninja's had to jump away from the cottage as the whole place was burned by the technique. Unfortunately for them though, the assassin wasn't finished yet and made another hand sign in a very fast manner that this time they were unable to decipher what kind of technique it would be.

Not waiting for the assassin to finish the hand signs, Sasuke attacked with the usage of his snakes effectively making the assassin jump away from the serpents.

"Fire Style! Atomic Blaze!"

Kakashi, who suddenly appeared at the back of the assassin, announced as a great fireball was released from his mouth and is heading towards the assassin. Kurenai who was at Kakashi's back was doing several hand signs as well, when she was finished, she turned into ashes, disappearing from view. The fireball released headed towards the assassin who was now currently doing another round of hand seals with the same speed as the first.

Finishing the hand signs that he was currently doing when he had to jump up, the assassin stared at the huge fireball released by the copy nin of Konoha with unwavering blue gaze. Knowing for a fact that Kurenai must have been using a genjutsu to conceal herself and attack if he tried to counter Kakashi's attack, they had no idea how many steps ahead of them he already is.

"Water Style! Destruction Torrent!" Doing another series of hand sign in the same manner, the assassin did not waste any time. "Wind Style! Typhoon Dance"

With two jutsu's combined, a strong water-wind combined elemental cyclone emerge, destroying Kakashi's Atomic Blaze Jutsu and at the same time cancelled Kurenai's concealment genjutsu, making her emerge from her hiding place and placing enough damage on her body that made her paralyze.

"Are you really ninja's? As far as I could tell from your way of fighting, you're all pathetic." Standing in front but a few feet away from the burning cottage, the assassin commented in a bored tone of voice, looking at each one of them with his unwavering gaze.

He looked scary yet agonizingly amazing as the red-orange background of burning inferno blazed, making him look like the bringer of death with his black hooded attire and blue eyes glowing thanks to the blazing background. His stance calm and composed as he stared at the Konoha nins with that unwavering gaze of his until Sasuke finally can't keep himself composed.

Sasuke growled in irritation losing composure at the same time. "Who are you and who are you working for?" this person is no ordinary assassin. The way he combined jutsu's and made hand seals is just too fast. Not even Kakashi could do that. "You better tell us now before we finish you off."

Not getting any response form the black hooded guy other than a chuckle, Sasuke gritted his teeth in irritation. Kakashi, who was standing in front of the injured kunoichi only narrowed his eyes and is now in a defensive position just in case the opponent attacks. Kurenai just glared at the opponent while clutching her badly injured arm that had gotten most damage when that dual element combo dispelled her jutsu.

This person is definitely strong. Being able to use two strong elemental jutsus and combining it like that is no easy task. The Destruction Torrent, which was supposed to be staying on the ground and making damage by using the pressure, ended up being lifted into the air in a spiral form by the Typhoon Dance making a water cyclone with the destructive slicing ability of the wind to whoever comes near it. Definitely a great and strong combination.

"Don't laugh! Tell us who you are and who your client is!" Kurenai shouted as she tried to stand up, though her injury in her leg prevented her from doing so as well. But it's not something that would really make her not do anything, though her arm would be the problem. She won't be able to do any jutsus at this rate.

Cocking his head a little bit to the side, the assassin gave a bored look. "I can't tell you who I am but I could assure you that what I did was beneficial for you people. As for my client…its highly confidential and classified."

They stared at him as if he was insane. "What do you mean you 'did it for us'? How could killing an informant who knows very important information about S-class criminals' would be beneficial for us?! You killed someone who could have given us information!!!" Kurenai all-out but shouted as she used Kakashi as her support.

The assassin had done nothing but smirk at them and shook his head slowly as if in a disbelieving manner. But the smirk plastered on the assassins' half revealed face made his actions reflect that of mockery. They glared harder at him for that action but nonetheless watched his very movement just in case it was all a trap for them to put their guard down.

"If he really is honest in helping you to capture the Akatsuki, shouldn't he have told you everything that he knows when he turned his back on the criminal group…" the assassin trailed off as he smirked inwardly at the faces of the Konoha ninja's in front of him.

"What do you mean? Every one of the information he said to us had been accurate and every base that we went to were really from the Akatsuki. How could you say to us that he's not honest."

Sigh. _'Are they dumb or what.' _"What I mean is… he's using you people. Getting information from you for his master and here you are, protecting him. How pathetic. And you call yourself ninja's." deciding that he doesn't want to talk any more to them, the assassin walked away towards the dark forest.

"And to tell you the truth…" he trailed off, but still continued walking. "…those hideouts were all phony. They were all made up and no matter what evidence you find that they were there were all fake. They were of course made so that he could gain your trust and all of you fell for it."

Not looking back at the bewildered faces of the Konoha nins at what he said, the assassin almost did not notice the attack that was coming to him and the appearance of four ninja's. Three were from Konoha wanting to help their comrades while the other one had other objectives. And it's nothing good, not at all.

"Kakashi-sensei, Kurenai-sensei, Sasuke/-san/-kun!!!!" three simultaneous shouts came while a dark figure with very dark azure eyes that was in front of them did a series of hand signs.

"Forbidden Arts! Fire Style! Dark Inferno!" Dark flames encircled the assassin, stopping him from fleeing from the battle field. The fire burned with magnificence but with an aura of pure destruction and darkness that made the people present shiver with unknown reason.

Standing just a few feet away from the trapped assassin, another black hooded figure stood all proud and tall… well not so tall, just the average height I suppose. Black cloak swaying along the silent breeze as the flame from the cottage finally died down with the help of the wind and the damp atmosphere surrounding them. Tenten, Hinata, Kiba and Akamaru stopped in their tracks near their teachers and Sasuke as they all stared at the new intruder.

The assassin looked back and stared at the new figure who wore a similar outfit as his, except that only the eyes were seen as the cloak the other person wore had covered a portion of his face like a face mask similar to Kakashi's.

Blue eyes met dark azure ones in a silent combat as the black flames continued to encircle the assassin, not letting him leave. "You finally came…" was what he said in a composed tone of voice but deep inside, he's panicking and running in circles clutching his head as if there is no tomorrow… _'I am so dead!!!…I am so dead!!!!…why did SHE have to appear now!? Damn!! I should have left a long time ago… I am so stupid in staying longer!' _

The other figure just stood and stared at the other. "I did…" was the only reply as she took a step forward towards the former.

"…I'm afraid to inform you but… I don't think now is the right time for us to fight…my mission is over after all."

"Hn." Walking closer.

"Well… see you next time….

…Haruno Sakura." With that, the black flame that was surrounding the assassin turned to blue and consumed him. Disappearing without any trace leaving the bewildered group of Konoha Ninja's staring at the other black cloaked figure just standing there near where the flame had been before.

"S-s-s-Sa-Sakura…is that you?"

------

Author's Note: Finally finished… sorry took so long… honestly speaking, I don't like how I ended this chapter… its very different from what I thought… but oh well… at least I finished this chapter and could start now with the next… Sakura-chan finally appears… ja… I hope you all would like this chapter and thank you to all those who read my story… kindly please read and review!!!!! bye bye :D


	6. Sakura: Return of the Kunoichi

_**Author's Note: **__Hehe… sorry took so long… been busy and my imagination isn't working well…. I've been trying to write my chapters more that five thousand words, but unfortunately though, I seem to need more practice and imagination to achieve that goal. I do hope you like this chapter that I had written. _

_I know that this chapter had taken some time to finish but I hope that you'll all still read my story… a lot has happened from getting sick (and banned from using the computer), to having an exam that took three days to finish (I made it a law…personal law… to not even touch the computer when an important exam is taking place)… well… I couldn't just write that often as of late…: I_

_Thank you so much to those who had placed me in their story alert, author's alert and fave story… thank you so much to all of you…*tears of joy*_

_Thank you as well to those who have read my story… to the viewers as well… thank you very much :D_

_I also want to specifically thank the following for being patient with me through all my late updates::D_

** Lily , Luka1Sakura, MarzSpy, ****Dazzel Angel****, ****The Blood Thirsty Sliver Wolf****, ****moonlight ookami, craizypet, ., Dragonic Peacekeeper, Sakudragon, sakurakickssasukesass, .Charm.42, CrimsonButterflyTearDrops018, Geanymaus, just-let-me-go, MandalshMeh, Midnightweasel, NaruXSaku4eva, shadow-binder, Tora Fujita, UchihaSakura2007, White Love, Zelandoni0045**

**I do not own the anime and manga of Naruto nor its overall characters…I am only a disclaimer but I do own the OC's and the plot at least… well that's all I own…:D**

_BLACK BLOOD SCARLET EYES_

_Chapter Five:_

_**Sakura: Return of the Kunoichi**_

_**~X~x~X~**_

~X~x~X~

_~RECAP~_

_Standing just a few feet away from the trapped assassin, another black hooded figure stood all proud and tall… well not so tall, just the average height I suppose. Black cloak swaying along the silent breeze as the flame from the cottage finally died down with the help of the wind and the damp atmosphere surrounding them. Tenten, Hinata, Kiba and Akamaru stopped in their tracks near their teachers and Sasuke as they all stared at the new intruder._

_The assassin looked back and stared at the new figure who wore a similar outfit as his except that only the eyes were seen as the cloak the other person wore had covered a portion of his face like a face mask similar to Kakashi's._

_Blue eyes met dark azure ones in a silent combat as the black flames continued to encircle the assassin, not letting him leave. "You finally came…" was what he said in a composed tone of voice but deep inside, he's panicking and running in circles clutching his head as if there is no tomorrow… 'I am so dead!!!…I am so dead!!!!…why did SHE have to appear now!? Damn!! I should have left a long time ago… I am so stupid in staying longer!' _

_The other figure just stood and stared at the other. "I did…" was the only reply as she took a step forward towards the former. _

"…_I'm afraid to inform you but… I don't think now is the right time for us to fight…my mission is over, after all."_

"_Hn." Walking closer._

"_Well… see you next time…._

…_Haruno Sakura." With that, the black flame that was surrounding the assassin turned to blue and consumed him. Disappearing without any trace leaving the bewildered group of Konoha Ninja's staring at the other black cloaked figure just standing there near where the flame had been before._

"_S-s-s-Sa-Sakura…is that you?"_

_~END OF RECAP~_

"S-s-s-Sa-Sakura…is that you?"

Clear dark azure eyes stared at them emotionlessly as the figure walked towards them casually. They went into defensive mode… well, at least Sasuke did while the others were just staring at the figure coming towards them casually. It had been so long after all. Hearing her name being called by the assassin made them stop in their tracks.

Two years, it had been two years and a couple of months since she just disappeared like that and they couldn't find any trace at all on where she went. All they know was that she left a few days after Sasuke left and that's all. Her scent disappeared without a trace as if she never existed.

Kakashi had been worried for the pink haired kunoichi. One reason to that is because he knows that Sakura could never live outside the village especially inside a forest without someone there to protect her. If there was anyone who would know how strong Sakura would be it would be him since he's her sensei.

Though she has been trained by Lady Hokage, it had only been a mere two days since that happened and of course, two days of training is practically equivalent to no improvement in any way AT ALL.

Lady Tsunade had been kind enough not to make her a nuke-nin since Sakura was her student though only lasted for two days. They were really curious as to why she left and of course, they made a conclusion that she left to find Sasuke seeing that she was in love with him.

They didn't like it at all, the way she just left without telling anyone, let alone her own parents and when they went to talk to Sakura's parents, they just found out that Sakura had none at all. She did not have a mother let alone a father.

She was an orphan.

Now, for all those years, they were finally able to see their lost comrade after all those times they have to worry for her sake and safety. And the said figure, the one whom they believe is Sakura is standing right in front of them even though her eyes are different from what it used to be.

"It has been a long time hasn't it, Kakashi-sensei. It's nice to see you all again, after these whole two years." Kakashi, Kurenai, Tenten, Hinata, Kiba and Akamaru flinched at the undeniably cold tone of voice she used though formal and curt. Sasuke only gave a narrowed eye glare as he stared at her. And just right on cue, Naruto, who had been injured previously, had finally arrived in a much better shape together with Ino and Choji.

So did the other ninja's and ANBU black ops that seem to have gotten out of a jam that they were in prior with a few scratches and burn marks tough not severe.

"Kaka-sensei, who's that guy!? Is he the assassin?!" Naruto all out shouted as he went into stance together with Choji and a pissed off Ino. "I really don't like how you placed us in that genjutsu, ya' know!! Dattebayo!!! That snake was hard to kill!!!"

After Naruto's outburst, Gai had to ask when he noticed that the cottage is burned and the client was no where to be seen. "Kakashi, what happened to the client? Where is he?" instead of Kakashi answering, it was Kurenai who was now being supported by both Tenten and Kiba. "The client's dead and before you guys try to ask any more questions, don't do anything reckless. And Naruto, this person is Sakura… as far as what the assassin called 'her' before disappearing."

"HEEEEEHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!"

Naruto and Ino exclaimed with utter bewilderment. But Naruto was not only bewildered, but he was happy as well. Two years, for two years, he'd been training to become stronger after he found out that Sakura had disappeared and now she's back!!! Ino could not even keep her shock after hearing that this person wearing an all out black cloak that only revealed the eyes is actually her childhood friend and rival. Those who don't know about Sakura only looked at them as if asking a question. But…

"Kurenai-sensei… if that really is Sakura-chan… how come her eyes are azure… or is that purple… somehow, I think that's blue…?" Naruto pointed out as he stared at those cold piercing eyes. Before Kurenai could even utter a single word, a soft chuckle came from the person they believe to be Sakura.

They stared in anticipation as the said person took off the hood of the cloak while speaking.

"It seems you have gotten smart for the past two years, Naruto."

_A very light pink with streaks of blood red and silver hair…_

"I see; it seems that you've become a medic ninja as far as your white skirt shows, Ino…"

_A finger went and touched the right eye pupil slightly…_

"…though your attire is very inappropriate for a medic nin."

…_revealing dark green calm eye as the other eye still remained azure…_

"Time surely flies so fast… the last time I remember you, Sasuke, was when I tried to stop you from going to Orochimaru…"

…_the same happened to the left eye as the colored contacts had finally been taken out._

"…It seems that the avenger returned back to its home. Or, are you not satisfied with the power you got form the snake?"

_Now staring at them are two clear, calm twin emerald gems, showing no emotions but feeling as if those very eyes are mocking them._

"Kakashi-sensei, your skills are very grave. You seem to be getting rusty now."

They all stared in amazement and shock, yes; even the great Uchiha Sasuke stared as well with a dazed expression. Right in front of them, a beautiful teenage, fourteen year old girl with clear, calm but emotionless emerald eyes, a very light pink hair that has streaks of blood red and silver that shines in the moonlit night that reaches her mid waist with unruly bangs that could very well cover her eyes if it weren't for her hittei-ate that resides in her forehead.

Her black cloak which is still covering her body remained in place as for the hood; it no longer covered her face. This allowed the people that knew her, and those who would soon know her, to see what she looks like.

Unnatural pale complexion, even for a normal person, it was as if she never had any sunlight for those two years. Face just the right angle, reddish lips that doesn't need any lipstick, eyes an amazing shade of emerald, all in all she has the beauty that isn't normal yet they could not erase the fact that she is Sakura, the Sakura that they all know.

Heck, even Ino was gaping at her as though she was an alien but soon changed when she gritted her teeth from envy and anger.

"Where have you been all this time Sakura? We were all worried about you! Even Lady Tsunade had been worried after you just disappeared like that without telling us!" Kakashi commented as he went near the kunoichi who was standing just a few feet away from them.

Sakura just smiled a blank smile which made Kakashi stop. "I've been training. I'm fed up of waiting for you to train me. So I've decided to leave the village to train somewhere else and to find a sensei that could and would willingly train me." Her voice was dangerously calm unlike the tone of voice she had when she was young. It was creepy.

"What do you mean 'training'? Isn't Lady Tsunade training you?! But you just left and disappeared like that!!!" Ino screamed in anger at Sakura while pointing an accusing finger at her. "We all know you went after Sasuke-kun?! And what is this crap in just calling him 'Sasuke'?! You just left because of your selfish desire to be the hero of having Sasuke-kun come back to Konoha with you!!!"

Now this is getting interesting. All the other ninja's and ANBU black ops were just staring at the pink haired with red and silver streaks kunoichi who just looked at the blond haired kunoichi who is standing just a foot away from her with bored eyes. The blonde on the other hand was glaring with all out hatred towards the girl whom she had been rivals with and who was also her childhood friend.

"Yamanaka-san…"

Well, that stopped her. Ino stared in shock as Sakura casually and formally address her by her family name with ease, like she had been doing that for how many years. This is definitely NOT the Sakura she knows from all this time.

"…I'm not being a hero at all. I have no interest in being a hero to a spoiled brat and avenger such as Uchiha Sasuke let alone to Konoha. I am truly grateful to Lady Hokage-sama for making me her apprentice. But, unfortunately to all of you, my self-imposed mission to begin with and from the very start was to eliminate Orochimaru. I was merely using Uchiha Sasuke as a link in order for me to hunt down the Snake Sannin."

That wasn't what they expected to hear from her. Mouths almost agape and bewildered faces, they have no idea what to say.

"Wa-What?" that was what Ino could only ask in this messed up situation at what Sakura just said.

_Sigh. Are they dumb or what? This is getting me nowhere at all_. "As what I have said… I am merely using Uchiha Sasuke to be my link to Orochimaru so that I could eliminate him as it had been my self-imposed mission… " her voice curt as she repeated what she had said to them in a more slower pace as if she was talking to a child. "…and for the record, he's all yours Yamanaka-san, because he is _so_ not my type. Too much of an emo in my opinion."

Dumbstruck. Well…heh! Who cares!!! They're all too much in a shock to even say anything and right now, that's more of a blessing since Sakura had more pressing matters to do and she can't waist anymore of the her time.

Unfortunately, before she could use some hand a sign, Sasuke seems to have gotten out of his stupor had had asked her through a glare and gritted teeth.

"If what you're saying is true, may _we_ know why you're after Orochimaru? And if you're not hunting the Snake for Konoha's sake, then for whose sake are you doing this for?" it is quite a reasonable question.

Thinking that it wouldn't hurt anyone, she answered.

"Seeing that it won't put me on harms way if I tell you, then so be it." She started. "Orochimaru is one of the people whom I have an immeasurable grudge upon. As you people might have realized already, I do not have any parents. I know you had found that out when I left the village without telling anyone about it…" she said calmly. "…and that is the reason I do not feel at all bothered for leaving. As for whom I am doing this for besides myself, I am doing it for no one. This is a self imposed mission as I have said before and I am intending to eliminate the Snake for myself."

"You could do that if you just stayed in Konoha!" Asuma reasoned out, though Sakura just ignored it.

Sakura shook her head in a disappointed manner. "Staying in Konoha won't do me any good." _I can't stay even if I am allowed to stay. That is just how it is._

Not waiting for them to get over what she said, Sakura sigh in exhaustion as she disappeared in a twirl of black petals. Leaving the ninja's to stare at the place where she once stood. Sakura is back, that is all they had to know. _At least for the time being, that is._

------

Covered in thick trees and only a few specks of light illuminating the surroundings, hidden in the shadow of the trees, a person in black cloak with red patterns stood still and right in front is a azure eyed ninja and a blue eyed guy wearing the same cloaks except theirs is plain black.

"You did well." The person behind the shadows spoke and from the tone of voice, one could conclude that it's a male. "Be prepared for a new mission that would be given anytime."

Both nodded and responded together "Hai." As both were given permission to leave, the azure eyed ninja stopped and looked back at the man in the shadows.

Azure eyes stared bravely at blood red eyes and nodded. Without words being spoken, both had an understanding of what to do.

------

"…And that's what happened, Hokage-sama." Kurenai finished and proceeded to step one step back and aligned herself with the jounins and chuunins as she had finished debriefing what had occurred and what she observed in her part.

They had returned three days after the death of their client. They had to stay there for at least three days to fix everything and to find at least any kind of lead for them towards the assassin though some were unable to concentrate after the appearance of their lost comrade. The event had caused them great discomfort and a mystery they surely want to be solved.

Once they had returned, they headed towards the Hokage's office to bring the bad news and another news they don't know whether it's a good one or a bad one. At first, they were all asked what happened to the client and of course, they told her what happened but now that they are all done, they have no idea how to say to the Lady Hokage about Sakura.

They know how much the Lady cared for the pink haired kunoichi and telling her that they just recently saw Sakura in their mission, driving the assassin away after calling her name for them to hear and then were unexpectedly left by her… well, let's just say that it would be like asking for a broken bones, broken ribs, destroyed liver, destroyed lungs and all sorts of stuff that they as sure as hell do not want to experience.

"I see. Well, thank you for the information. I know that all of you didn't like how the mission ended up, but like what I have told you before I sent you for that mission… there is in all likelihood that you won't be able to protect the client against the enemy. Though I am definitely glad that you, at least have done your best to protect the client…"

Silence was all the Hokage gained as everyone tensed for unknown reason. Tsunade raised an eyebrow as she gazed at the elite ninja's in front of her. There seems to be something odd about there behavior but nonetheless, she continued her short speech as well as giving them certain news that they sure as hell would be excited about…

Or, that's what she thought…

-----

Somewhere in the forest of Konoha, around twenty miles that is… or… I think it's probably more…

"Darn it!!!!! Sakura!!! Slow down a bit! It won't hurt you to at least lessen your speed to minimum!!!" shouted a black haired , blue eyed guy around 15 years old running after a black hooded figure in front of him.

With inhuman pace in running, the kunoichi just looked forward. "You're just slow, Ryu. I'm practically running in my slowest speed here!!!" Sakura shouted back without looking at the former.

To all that would probably be watching, they could practically see nothing but the surroundings. And that my friends, is their slowest. Both are nothing but wind as they ran through a thick forest heading towards Konoha with inhuman speed.

"I am not SLOW!!!! You're just freakin' fast!! Has anyone ever told you that your speed is definitely inhumane?" Ryu shouted back as easily as he dodge another set of branch getting in his way while keeping the same speed that he had had used as of late. "Honestly, why are you even in a hurry? We could always take our time. It's not as if the village would disappear or something."

Sighing with exasperation, Sakura deliberately back flipped without even stopping in her run and now landed gracefully next to her companion, and running with the speed he is using.

Resuming the conversation they had started, Sakura glanced at her companion with bored eyes. "If my speed is inhumane as you have said, then what about yours? We are running barely near of what a human could practically consider as normal."

Looking straight ahead, she notched her speed a bit faster, gaining the same lead as she had before. "I don't want to waste anymore time as it is. One wrong move and all the chess pieces will be taken away from the field of play. One minute wasted would lead to defeat and I am not intending to be defeated in this game of manipulation." _I don't intend to especially now that I'm near my opponent's king._

Silence engulfed the two as they continued running in their current speed. Knowing that with this, they could reach Konoha in less than ten minutes. Ryu glanced at his companion once in a while as they neared the entrance of the village. '_Sigh' _

"You should chill out once in a while you know. If you continue to be so… well… being like this, you might not be able to think clearly when the time desperately needs you to be."

Silence was the only one who greeted him as he finished his speech. Knowing that continuing this conversation would only lead to unwanted topics; Ryu decided that now was not the time to make any more bad blood between them especially if the topic is about Sakura and her goals.

Going to a lighter topic, Ryu spoke. "…anyways, so…what are we going to do in Konoha? I thought you don't want to stay there anymore? What's up with the change of heart, Sa-chan?"

Giving in a sigh, and a small 'thank-you' smile towards her companion for the change of topic, Sakura nonchalantly answered with her own dismissive shrug to boot, "Mission. Given directly from, My Lady. Go back to Konoha and report the events happening there while gathering information about the snake. She never told much about it but she did told me to bring a companion…"

"… and so you decided to bring me instead because of my awesome skills and because I'm special and would be of helped?" Ryu uncharacteristically prided himself with… no… scratch that…it isn't uncharacteristic at all…

Trying not to snort at the comment made, Sakura gave a dismissive 'shut up' shrug before replying without being too mean to her partner who seems to be over his head at the moment. "No reason actually. You were the only one available at that time. Every one were on their own missions and you were the only one who weren't given one… or came back from one at that moment. No big deal."

"Hey!!! Come on Saku, give me some credit for my skills as well… I am very much capable of having unbelievable skills an—" Ryu trailed off as he was cut off from continuing by Sakura. "—and for having too much pride, confidence and being so cocky that you could out-cocky the Uchiha brat. Yeah I know, I know. No need to tell me that."

An evident pout graced Ryu's face at his female companions' words and decided to ignore her comment on his attitude. Smiling to himself, Ryu sped up a notch and overtook the lead that was supposed to belong to Sakura.

A clear message of battle and

His smile widened into a grin when he heard her soft growl of irritation and a smile in her face that he knew would be there even if he couldn't see it.

Sakura was after all too predictable in his opinion and knowing which buttons to push always gives him the advantage of getting revenge… and if not… just getting the pink haired kunoichi to lighten up her mood.

Though at times… he knows… doing things like that never goes according to his plan that's why, right now, he's taking a huge risk of getting beat up in a bloody pulp.

Good thing right now, it work out just fine…

After all, he never wants to get into the pinkette's bad side one bit… nope… not at all…

Bad things happen to those who did…

…very bad things happen…

…very, very bad things…

…and their speed…well…let's just say it's beyond inhumane as it is…

------

Tsunade's Office

"…and before you all leave to get the rest you all deserve, I have an important announcement to make." The Lady Hokage started as she gaze seriously yet mischievously at Konoha twelve…- (Well, eleven if you don't count Sakura) - and their sensei's who were asked to stay behind for this announcement of hers. "We will have two important visitors coming here to Konoha. We would probably expecting them to be here in a few minutes or an hour from now."

In the middle of her announcement, Gai, raised his hand for a question, interrupting the Lady's speech. "Yes, Gai, is there any problem?"

"Hokage-sama, who are these visitors coming here to the village?"

"…the two visitors are ninja's, a shinobi and a medic kunoichi. One will be here for the chuunin exam while the other is only here for a sightseeing. Show them much needed respect and don't do anything that might get you in neither one's bad side. I have a feeling that they aren't here for just that." Opening a drawer from her desk, and with a few seconds of search, Tsunade took a short brown folder and placed it on top of her desk, not opening it.

"I will be giving you a B Class Mission concerning our two visitors. I don't know what they look like but the letter that I had received concerning their arrival had stated that the shinobi's will be here for at least two to three months. This mission might turn into an A class mission if needed it to be."

Finally opening the folder she had taken out of the drawer from her desk, Tsunade gave the opened folder to Hatake Kakashi, the latter taking it and read while the Lady Hokage continued to speak.

"As you all know, the Chuunin Exams will be held a week from now and there will be a lot of ninja contestants that would be here from different Hidden Villages and a lot of spectators as well from the outside including daimyo's and businessmen." Looking seriously at her audience to see whether or not one would try to ask a question or plainly to interrupt, seeing none, she continued.

"A lot of changes had been made concerning the Chuunin Exam in every country including ours. Instead of having three rounds for the exam, we have decided to add a new test. This test is the last test and those who have won on the third round would have to fight a Chuunin in the fourth and final round and the Chuunin would be the one to determine whether or not the genin is qualified to be a chuunin."

In Tsunade's slight pause, Neji Hyuuga raised his hand, to interrupt the Hokage's next words, to ask a question. "What if every genin, who passed the third test, would be defeated? Its pretty much going to happen. How could they be chuunins then?"

"Neji does have a point. No genin could defeat a chuunin unless they are in a group and that alone could even be a rarity." Asuma second.

Kurenai nodded at the reason and so did the others.

Smirking, Tsunade continued. "That's true. No genin would be able to win against a chuunin on their own and that's why we had come to another rule for the final round."

"Rule? What 'rule'?" Naruto questioned as he looked at the Hokage with confused blue orbs.

"The rule is quite simple and not too hard to understand. 'If the genin is defeated by the chuunin, the chuunin would determine whether of not the genin have skills for being a chuunin; but, if the chuunin gets defeated by the genin, then the genin would directly become a chuunin without question… unless of course if the genin cheated in the final round.' This is the rule and I'm sure it's easy to understand."

Silence.

"That is one rule." Kiba commented with a whistle to boot.

Tenten gave a skeptical look. "That definitely is new. But how could a genin cheat in a battle? How do you even know if it's cheating?"

Ino shrugged. "Who knows." She said dismissively. "Maybe, if they had some kind of twin who pretends to be a clone in the battle to fight side by side with them or something similar."

"That makes sense." Lee commented while in his thinking pose same with his idol of a teacher.

"Lady Hokage," Kakashi interrupted the conversation going on with the others to ask a question. "How could we tell if the genin is even qualified to be a chuunin? We know what a chuunin should have but, how could we be sure that our decision is correct?"

"That, you shouldn't be worried about. You won't entirely be the judge of the battle. There are also chuunins and myself including those who were chosen as the examiners and judge to help with the decision making."

"How do we know if we're the ones who has to fight?" Kurenai asked.

Shrugging, the Hokage answered. "There would be a random choosing by the screen board to whom the genins would have to fight. You won't know and neither do I who you would end up fighting." Leaning back on her chair, she continued. "In a way, they might even end up fighting any of you, let alone the other chuunins from another batch or from those older than you or younger. Since there aren't much chuunins considering that most have went up a rank or may not be present in the exam, we decided to include your jounin sensei's to participate."

"WHAAAAAAAAAAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Naruto exclaimed. "You mean Kaka-sensei would be fighting as well?!!"

"Yes. Including Maito Gai, Sarutobi Asuma, Yuhi Kurenai and Yamato. They would all be included in the fighting but of course, they have the right to refuse to battle and let someone else from the chuunin to take over or the participants themselves could also ask to fight someone else."

An understanding silence came and everyone nodded. An indication that Tsunade could proceed to continue.

"Being part of the Chuunin Exams is also a part of your mission in observing the two ninja's visiting here since one of them would be participating in the exams. If you happen to fight him or her, keep your guard up, we don't know what their capable of. Watch them closely, especially the participant, and give me a written detail of your battle. I'll at least make sure that one of you would be the one fighting our guest in the exam. We can't keep our guards down especially now that Orochimaru seems to be on the move."

"Hai."

"If none of you have any more questions, you may be dismissed." Bowing their heads in respect, one by one they started to head out from the door until the Hokage spoke after remembering something lat minute. "Before you all go, if you happen to see someone that isn't from the village, look at their forehead protectors. If it so happens that the symbol is a faded crescent moon, bring them here immediately; they might be our two guest that would be staying here for three months."

"Hai."

"That's all for now, you may take your leave then."

As soon as the door to the Hokage's office had been closed, footsteps disappearing away, the Godaime Hokage opened the left drawer of her desk and took what it seemed to be a picture.

'_I never imagined that two years had passed since you disappeared… what are you planning_? _What made you suddenly decide to return back to the village you left without even a goodbye?'_

Heaving a sad sigh, Tsunade opened the drawer she previously opened and placed the picture inside. Closing the drawer, she headed towards the window where she could see the Hokage monuments and gazed at the monument of the third Hokage.

Things are changing again and its unknown whether for the best or for the worst…

------

Somewhere near the gates of Konoha…

"Saaaaaaaaaaaaaaa-Chaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

_Sigh. _"Ryu… were cousins and I really do care for you a lot…" the unusual pink, bloody red and white haired kunoichi began as she rubbed her aching head. Her cousin is definitely a lot noisier than Naruto and Ino combined. _Definitely more noisy…- _glancing at her partner who was currently eyeing the village entrance with admiration while saying something which she couldn't understand -…_ and annoying._

"I know, I know and I care for you too…" Ryu replied with a smile but still staring at the village in front of him.

"I know that but… if you keep being annoying, I will turn you into plant food… please keep your voice down. We don't want anyone to see us – me — until I produce a henge." Was the only reply, as she stared at the guards that were currently sitting on a chair behind –what looked like a table- the gate.

Moving her hands to produce the necessary seals to not only change her appearance but also to hide and change her chakra signature to that of someone else so that no one would notice that it's her; unfortunately though…someone had other plans which happen to be unthought-of at the moment.

…Clearly made by an idiot who had nothing better to do or hadn't thought of anything in any way and just made it up along the way.

BAM!!!

CRASH!!!

"Crap!!"

"Ouch!"

"Who goes there? And mind telling us what happened here?" one of the guards questioned as soon as he and his partner heard a crash not too far from where they are.

It wasn't even that hard to notice when you could practically hear the loud crash and the huge brown smoke hovering, concealing the figures who had caused it in the first place.

"State your name and your business here in the village as well as where you come from." Genma stated in a serious tone of voice as he and his companion eyed the smoke, covering what they could tell from the chakra signature, two people. The gender, they entirely have no idea what it is.

Slowly, the smoke began to clear from view and they were able to determine not only the gender but also the position of the two people who are clearly ninja's; and what they saw was definitely something…

…on the ground, lying on her stomach with a very, very pissed off expression on her face is Sakura. Her hair a bit messy and some stains of soil on her arms, black gloves and clothes. On top of her, sitting on her back without any worry of getting injured from the fall and who seems to be so comfortable in his current position, is Ryu. Looking sheepishly at the two Konoha ninja's in front of them.

"Ano, you see… umm… I kinda' had fault in this…umm…" Trying in vain to find the right words to say, forgetting that he was currently sitting on a pissed off beyond any reason of a kunoichi whose murderous aura radiated in waves which the two Konoha ninja's could practically sense. "Before any of you would say anything, we are here for the Chuunin Exams as well as being guest temporarily here in your village. I'm very sure that Lady Hokage would vouch for us in this."

Grinning sheepishly as he explained, he didn't realized the appearance of a dirt colored dragon, with murderous intent, coming from behind his back with an intent to kill, baring its large fanged mouth at him, ready to swallow him whole.

"ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAARRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!"

CHUNK!!

CHEW… CHEW… CHEW…

"Good riddance to that idiot…" a very, very murderous Sakura fumed silently as she pushed herself up from her previous position to stand up.

Dusting the dirt she accumulated after hugging the ground (you could practically see the dirt colored dragon, which is clearly an earth type jutsu, trying to chew something inside its mouth) thanks to an idiot of a cousin of hers who had temporarily forgotten that he was sitting on her back (and who is now currently being chewed by a dirt colored dragon).

Straightening up and adjusting her attire to at least look a little bit decent, she stared at the two bewildered ninja's in front of her. _Thanks to him, they'll definitely tell Godaime about this… (sigh)… this is going to be a lot of trouble for me… _"What my companion said is true, here is the papers you might want to look at if you still don't believe us."

Handing a few papers she dished out from the small bag pouch strapped on her waist, she gave it to Genma who was eyeing her with weariness, suspicion and bewilderment. She knows that he knows her, not only from her pink hair, but because she _was_ in team seven years ago before she disappeared.

Taking the papers held his way, he scanned it thoroughly while his other companion stared at the giant dirt colored dragon that hadn't disappeared yet. It was like it was fighting a battle in its mouth. The dragon had already accumulated a lot of audience from the village and it would only take a few minutes (or seconds) for other ninja's to come here, trying to know why there are so many people.

"These papers are real. You may pass, Haruno. I never expected you to be here after all these years. You are lucky that Godaime didn't make you a missing-nin. The council were already ready to classify you as one but only stepped back when Tsunade-sama had threatened them into not crossing the line."

Handing back the papers to the pink, red and white haired kunoichi, he eyed her wearily before glancing a bit at the dragon at her back that is still in a sort of battle. He glanced back at her when she spoke to him in a very calm and dull voice that was so unlike the Sakura that he had known those years back, though not that long at all.

"I am grateful to Lady Hokage for what she did for me, but truth be told… it doesn't matter at all to me whether or not I become a missing in. now if you'll excuse me, I have an exam to be ready for…"

Blank, cold eyes stared at the older nin unwaveringly. Bowing her head slightly to indicate respect, she looked straight ahead without glancing at anyone. The dirt colored dragon disappearing back to the ground.

People who saw her pass through the gate whispered in hush tones, not realizing that she could hear them and their soft words.

"_Hey, isn't that the Haruno girl that disappeared after the last heir of the Uchiha disappeared?" _one person whispered.

One answered from the crowed. _"Yeah it's her alright. It's obvious because of her pink hair."_

"_What do you mean pink hair? Idiot, her hair practically has red and silver in it. It's not that pink at all anymore." _Another person from the crowed commented.

Another scoffed amusedly._ "I bet she had those silver strands because she's getting _old._"_

"_Sshh… she might hear you. Don't speak so loud." _An old lady warned_._

"_What could she do? Hurt me? Kill me? Yeah right. She may be a ninja, but she had made an oath to protect the villagers from the village she was born from. She can't hurt me and not get unpunished from doing so." _The same person who scoffed said frankly.

"_He's right. She's not a missing nin now because the Godaime didn't allow that to happen and so did Uchiha Sasuke and his teammates and the sensei's who knew her. She should be grateful. I mean, what would her parents say if they found out that their daughter is a missing nin? I think that's why we never saw neither of them; they are probably ashamed of their daughter for making such a fuss about Sasuke leaving the village." _

"_Is she going to be here for the Chuunin exams?" _someone from the crowd spoke to another_._

"_I think so, that's what I heard her say…" _another replied.

"_This is going to be fun. I wonder how strong she is right now? What do you think? Did she get stronger or not?" _another asked.

"_Who knows… she probably hadn't even changed at all… I mean, come on, she is the weakest among the Konoha twelve! She can't possibly be strong. I bet she won't even last the first round before she gets kicked out."_

"_Ssssshhh… stop that. We better stop before she hears us… she may be weak but she's still a ninja nonetheless."_

They didn't realize that everything that they said was not only heard by her but also by a shadow easily blending among them.

Cold piercing eyes watched as one by one, the villagers that were talking whispered criticisms and insults to the kunoichi, left to do their respective works that had been hindered because of a dirt dragon making a spectacle show and by the kunoichi that had disappeared for a long time finally came back from all those years, as well.

No one realized that he wasn't a part of them as the shadow walked casually among them, as though he is a part of the ordinary folks of the village.

Walking among the people, the shadow disappeared among the crowd.

------

_**Author's Note: **__the chapter is finally finished after all this time… hehehe… the next one is coming soon (but knowing my 'soon', it might take a long time at least…) hope all of you would still be patient with me and I hope you could review my work…_

_I really want to know if my writing style is understandable or at least alright…_


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